Article

Improvements in task performance due to repeated testing have previously been
documented in healthy and patient populations. The existence of a similar change
in performance due to repeated testing has not been previously investigated at
the level of gait kinematics in the post-stroke population. The presence of such
changes may define the number of testing sessions necessary for measuring a
stable baseline of pre-training gait performance, which is a necessary
prerequisite for determining the effectiveness of gait interventions. Considering
the emergence of treadmills as a popular tool for gait evaluation and retraining
and the common addition of functional electrical stimulation (FES) to gait
retraining protocols, the stability of gait kinematics during the repeated
testing of post-stroke individuals on a treadmill, either with or without FES,
needs to be determined. Nine individuals (age: 58.1+/-7.3 years), with
hemi-paresis secondary to a stroke (onset: 7.3+/-6.0 years) participated in this
study. An 8-camera motion analysis system was used to measure sagittal plane knee
and ankle joint kinematics. Gait kinematics were compared across two (N=9) and
five (N=5) testing sessions. No consistent changes in knee or ankle kinematics
were observed during repeated testing. These findings indicate that clinicians
and researchers may not need to spend valuable time and resources performing
multiple testing and acclimatization sessions when assessing baseline gait
kinematics in the post-stroke population for use in determining the effectiveness
of gait interventions.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS