Clinical trial NCT00173719: Influence of Assistive Device Use While Performing Dual Task in Patients With Stroke
Official title: Influence of Assistive Device Use on Dynamic Balance and the Associated Attentional Demands During Standing and Walking in Patients With Stroke
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stroke
Keywords: Hemiplegia
Assisstive device
Walking
Dynamic equilibrium
Reaction time
Attention
Dual task
Lead sponsor: National Taiwan University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan
First posted: 2005-09-15
Enrollment: 40
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 50
Maximum age (years): 75
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER

Brief summary: The primary purposes of the this three-year research proposal are to investigate the influence of assistive device use on dynamic balance and the associated attentional demands during standing and walking in patients with stroke

Detailed description: Research has shown the effectiveness of using ambulatory assistive devices to increase standing stability of patients with stroke in clinical practice (Maeda et al., 2001). However, literature has also suggested that manipulation of ambulatory assistive devices in dynamic motor tasks, such as walking, inevitably requires additional attention, even in healthy adults (Wright \& Kemp, 1992). Given that the majority of patients with stroke suffer from balance control difficulty, which subsequently increases their attentional demands associated with maintaining balance (Brown et al., 2002), it remains an important question as to whether the use of ambulatory assistive devices would take away some attentional resources that would otherwise be used for maintaining balance.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Healthy adults

* between 50 and 75 years old
* having no neuromuscular or musculoskeletal disorders that would jeopardize their balance control abilities
* being willing to sign an informed consent approved by the Human Subjects Committee of the National Taiwan University Hospital

Stroke patients

* between 50 and 75 years old
* hemiplegic or hemiparetic as a result of a single cerebral vascular accident
* medically stable with no ongoing complications
* independently walking without using any assistive device for at least 10 meters, and have the exercise endurance for at least 30 minutes
* having no serious hemianopsia, hemi-inattention or any obvious cognitive problems as evaluated with the Mini-Mental State examination
* being willing to sign an informed consent approved by the Human Subjects Committee of the National Taiwan University Hospital

Exclusion Criteria:

* unable to follow the order of the experimenters, and having serious comprehension and expression impairment

Primary outcomes:
measure: To investigate the voice reaction time and response accuracy while simultaneously performing the dual task with or without using assistive devices for healthy adults and stroke patients
timeFrame: 2003-2004
Secondary outcomes:
measure: To investigate the related gait parameters(ex. walking speed, stride length, gait cycle time, and foot pressure etc.)while simultaneously performing the dual task with or without using assistive devices for healthy adults and stroke patients
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Taipei
country: Taiwan
facility: School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy College of Medicine, National Taiwan University
Study officials:
affiliation: National Taiwan University Hospital
name: Pei-Fang Tang, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: