# The Relationship between Gait Velocity and Walking Pattern in Hemiplegic Patients
## 3 Results  
Of the 30 patients enrolled, 17 were men and 13 were women, with an average age of 69.7 \(\pm\) 7.1 years and an average BMI of 28.8 \(\pm\) 5.2 (Table 1). The post-stroke sample presents hemiparesis as the primary disability (20 involving the left side, 10 the right side), with an average Motricity Index for the paretic side of 76.5 \(\pm\) 25.0. Functional evaluations of the activities of daily living showed an average BI of 71.60 \(\pm\) 16.4 and a NEAS of 10.3 \(\pm\) 4.3. Evaluation of kinematic gait analysis data and video recording made it possible to identify the following compensatory gait strategies: vaulting in two patients; leg circumduction in two patients; hip hiking in five patients; hip hiking and vaulting in four patients; hip hiking, vaulting and circumduction in five patients; 11 patients had no specific compensatory gait strategy (non-classifiable); and one patient was unable to perform gait analysis. The average speed gait values are reported in Table 2.  
Considering the small number of patients in each group, the gait strategy that allowed for a faster gait speed was the circumduction pattern alone (58.9 cm/s \(\pm\) 11.2). Patients with a non-classifiable pattern showed the second fastest speed, although with higher variance (51.5 cm/s \(\pm\) 23.6). The slower gait was that of the Hip hiking group (28.3 cm/s \(\pm\) 14.8), close to the speed of patients who used vaulting (30.4 cm/s \(\pm\) 8.7). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l} \hline Age & 69.7 (SD 7.1) \\ \hline Sex (M:F) & 17:13 \\ \hline BMI & 28.8 (SD 5.2) \\ \hline Paretic side (R:L) & 10:20 \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Compensatory gait strategy} & 2 Vaulting \\  & 5 Hip hiking \\ \cline{1-1}  & 2 Circumduction \\ \cline{1-1}  & 4 Vaulting + hip hiking \\ \cline{1-1}  & 5 Vaulting + hip hiking + circumduction \\ \cline{1-1}  & 11 Non classifiable \\ \hline VAS & 19.7 (SD 24.9) \\ \hline BI & 71.6 (SD 16.4) \\ \hline MI paretic side & 76.5 (SD 25.0) \\ \hline NEAS & 10.3 (SD 4.3) \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Sample characteristics. However, when the Wald Chi-Square test was performed to evaluate the effects of gait patterns on the speed of progression, only the vaulting and hip hiking gait strategy affected gait speed (\(p\) = 0.003), while circumduction alone was not included in the model. Gait speed was directly related to the Motricity Index of the paretic side (\(p\) = 0.024, Rho 0.4), as well as to the BI (Rho 0.7, \(p\) < 0.000) and the NEAS (Rho 0.6, \(p\) < 0.000). Gender, age and paretic side (left or right hemiparesis) did not affect gait speed. The VAS did not relate to speed. Furthermore, the selective muscular strength of the quadriceps of the paretic side significantly and directly related to gait speed (Rho 0.6, \(p\) = 0.001) and there was a slight direct correlation, with borderline statistical significance, between selective muscular strength of the liiopsoas of the paretic side and speed while walking (Rho 0.4, \(p\) = 0.061). No selective strength of other muscles on the paretic side was found to affect gait speed (Table 3). Paretic side hip extension aROM was directly correlated with gait speed (\(p\) = 0.037, Rho 0.5). No other correlations between paretic side lower limb articular aROMs were found. Gait speed was, as expected, correlated with stance time, stride length, cycle time and cadence (Table 4). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline
**Pattern** & **N Patients** & **Mean Speed cm/s** & **SD** \\ \hline Vaulting & 2 & 30.3 & 8.7 \\ \hline Hip hiking & 5 & 28.3 & 14.8 \\ \hline Circumduction & 2 & 58.9 & 11.2 \\ \hline Hip hiking + vaulting & 4 & 43.2 & 9.9 \\ \hline Hip hiking + vaulting + circumduction & 5 & 46.0 & 5.1 \\ \hline Non classifiable & 11 & 51.5 & 23.6 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Gait pattern.