Effects of gait training with partial body weight support on the intra- and inter-members coordination of individuals post stroke

• Grant number: 15/13100-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2016
• End date: January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Ana Maria Forti Barela
• Grantee: Melissa Leandro Celestino
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde. Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul (UNICSUL). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/23571-1 - Effects of gait training with partial body weight support on treadmill and over the ground on coordination of individuals with chronic stroke, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Usually, post-stroke individuals present difficulty in locomotion, and different forms of gait intervention have been employed in order to at least diminish those difficulties. The use of partial body weight support (PBWS) is amongst different strategies of intervention for that population. Although this strategy has been employed on treadmills, more recently, the use of PBWS over the ground has been investigated, and clinical evaluations, spatial-temporal parameters and range of motion of lower limbs joints have been considered to verify the effects of such intervention protocol. Certainly, the investigation of such aspects is very important, however, it is also important to investigate if those aspects more related to walking coordination of post-stroke individuals modify after a gait intervention protocol with PBWS, and if the type of walking surface (over ground or treadmill) might influence on such possible alterations. In this way, the main goal of this project is evaluate the effects of gait training with PBWS over the ground and on treadmill on the gait coordination of post-stroke individuals. Those individuals will be divided randomically into two groups: one group will practice walking with PBWS on treadmill and other group will practice walking with PBWS over the ground. Both groups will be submitted to three training sessions per week during six weeks, totalizing 18 training sessions. All participants will be evaluated before, right after and six weeks after the end of all training sessions. Besides the post-stroke individuals, healthy individuals will be considered as control group and will be evaluated on one occasion only. On each evaluation, kinematic data of walking performance will be acquired with a movement analysis system (VICON). Reflective markers will be placed on main body landmarks of each participant to define trunk, pelvis, thigh, shank and foot segments. Subsequent analysis will be performed using Matlab (MathWorks, Inc.) to calculate parameters related to intra- and inter-limbs coordination.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GAMA, GABRIELA L.; CELESTINO, MELISSA L.; BARELA, JOSE A.; BARELA, ANA M. F.. Gait initiation and partial body weight unloading for functional improvement in post-stroke individuals. GAIT & POSTURE, v. 68, p. 305-310, FEB 2019. (13/01050-1, 09/15003-0, 13/02322-5, 10/15218-3, 15/13100-9)

CELESTINO, MELISSA L.; VAN EMMERIK, RICHARD; BARELA, JOSE A.; GAMA, GABRIELA L.; BARELA, ANA M. F.. Intralimb gait coordination of individuals with stroke using vector coding. HUMAN MOVEMENT SCIENCE, v. 68, DEC 2019. (13/02322-5, 13/01050-1, 15/13100-9, 16/08883-7)

CELESTINO, MELISSA L.; VAN EMMERIK, RICHARD; BARELA, JOSE A.; BACCA, ODAIR; BARELA, ANA M. F.. Effects of limited knee flexion movement in intra-limb gait coordination. JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS, v. 128, NOV 9 2021. (16/08883-7, 15/13100-9, 18/04964-8)