Motor learning approach to application of electromyographic biofeedback to improve gait in individuals with chronic stroke

Abstract

s of the SIAMOC 2008 Congress / Gait & Posture 29S (2009) e1–e31 e30 Discussion: Arm and leg coordination is significantly different between overground and treadmill walking. In particular, during TW, the arm and leg swing movements are ‘‘more out of phase’’ with respect to OW. This is connected to a significant increase of cadence in TWand, consequently, to an increase in the swing phase duration, which anticipated the instant of maximum thigh extension. The increase in cadence could be due to the fact that propioceptive, vestibular and visual inputs are different in comparison to OW. In particular the absence of optical flow generates in subjects the visual perception of ‘‘walking slower than they actually do’’, leading to the attempt of augmenting the velocity. The results of this attempt could be the increase in cadence. The 50% of the arms which showed a 2:1 frequency ratio in OW, were those which had a stride frequency below the natural pendular frequency (NPF) of the arms. The seven arms which switched from a 2:1 to a 1:1 ratio passing from OW to TW were only those whose cadence in TW exceeded the NPF. It is suggested that the increase in cadence shown in TW, together with the mechanical properties of the upper limbs affect the neural mechanism which controls the way we coordinate upper and lower limbs movements during gait.