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Published on: January 15, 2016
Modulation of walking speed by changing optic flow in persons with stroke
Anouk Lamontagne1, Joyce Fung, Bradford J McFadyen
1School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University and Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital Research Center (CRIR), Montreal, Canada. anouk.lamontagne@mcgill.ca
Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation
|June 28, 2007
Summary
Persons with stroke show altered gait speed modulation with optic flow (OF) changes. Virtual reality can leverage this to improve walking speed post-stroke.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Human Movement Science
Background:
- Reduced walking speed is common after stroke.
- Optic flow (OF) speed perception influences walking speed.
- Investigating stroke's impact on OF-walking speed modulation is crucial for rehabilitation.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare how stroke survivors and healthy individuals modulate walking speed in response to changing OF speeds.
- Assess the potential of virtual environments (VE) with manipulated OF speeds for enhancing post-stroke walking speed.
Main Methods:
- Participants (12 stroke, 12 healthy) walked on a treadmill in a VE with varying OF speeds.
- Two experiments: continuous sinusoidal OF changes and discrete OF speed manipulations.
- Gait speed modulation and test-control trial speed ratios were analyzed between groups.
Main Results:
- Healthy individuals showed out-of-phase gait speed modulation with OF changes.
- Stroke survivors exhibited weaker gait speed modulation and altered phasing in response to OF.
- Both groups demonstrated a negative linear relationship between gait speed and OF speed in discrete trials.
Conclusions:
- Stroke impairs the modulation of gait speed based on perceived OF speed.
- The capacity for modulation, even if reduced, allows stroke survivors to increase speed with slower OFs.
- Virtual reality manipulation of OF speed holds promise for stroke gait rehabilitation interventions.
