A new gait rehabilitation approach for patients with brain injury

What is it about?

After a lesion to the brain, many patients suffer from a diminished walking capability. During the first rehabilitation phase, specific cares help the recovery of motor function to offer the best chances of returning to normal walk. For example, the repeated practice of walking exercises facilitates the gain of muscular strength and stimulates motor relearning. However, in patients, who have finished the first rehabilitation phase, it is often observed strong limping, unsteady gait, and a bad management of obstacle clearance. Thus, these individuals fall frequently, with risk of severe injury. The aim of the study is to assess the efficacy of gait training on a treadmill equipped with an augmented reality system. Shapes are displayed onto the treadmill belt with a projector (beamer): the patient adapts his/her gait to the drawing that unfolds in front of him/her. It is possible to train gait symmetry for coordination enhancement or to exercise obstacle clearance and gait agility. Whereas the method seems promising, thorough studies that would confirm its efficacy are lacking. Therefore, we seek to conduct a randomized controlled trial to compare visually-guided gait training with a more classical training method. .

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Why is it important?

We expect to first improve the efficacy of gait rehabilitation and second to better understand the recovery process of locomotor function during the first months after a stroke. The present article describes the protocol of the trial in details.