Relationships between gait and standing balance in hemiplegia / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the relationships between the standing balance and walking ability of hemiplegic stroke survivors.Methods Eighty-eight post-stroke hemiplegic patients who could walk independently for more than 10 metres were selected into a patient group,while 88 healthy counterparts were recruited into a control group.Descriptors of the gait and balance function of both groups were collected using a gait and balance training and evahuation apparatus (ModelAL-600).The gait parameters were step width,walking speed,step length asymmetry (SLA),swing time asymmetry (SWTA) and stand time asymmetry (STA).The balance parameters studied were total trajectory length of the center of plantar pressure (COPD),the average left and right deviation of the center of plantar pressure (COPD-X) and the average anterio-posterior deviation of the center of plantar pressure (COPD-Y).Differences in indexes of gait and balance function between the two groups were analyzed using t-tests,and the relationships between the gait and balance indicators were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients.Results The walking speed,step width,COPD,COPD-X,COPD-Y,SLA,SWTA and STA of the patient group [(37.64± 18.29)cm/s,(14.45±4.17)cm,(66.75±29.04)cm,(2.04±1.41)cm,(2.48±1.28)cm,(1.30±0.46),(1.65±0.67) and (1.18±0.16),respectively] all increased significantly more compared to the control group [(90.76±14.72)cm/s,(8.70±2.62) cm,(27.84±6.54) cm,(1.30±0.53) cm,(1.68±0.40) cm,(1.07±0.06),(1.07±0.08) and (1.05±0.06),respectively],though the walking speed was significantly slower than that in the control group (P＜0.05).The patient group's average COPD-X showed slightly and moderately negative correlation with their walking speed,step width,SLA and SWTA (P＜0.05).COPD-Y was weakly related with step width (P＜0.05).Conclusion The standing balance of hemiplegic patients after stroke is related to their walking speed,step width and gait asymmetry.Especially significant correlation is observed between standing balance parameters such as COPD-X and gait parameters.