Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 3, 2026
Lower-Limb Biomechanical Characteristics Associated with Unplanned Gait Termination Under Different Walking Speeds
Published on: August 25, 2020
Relationships between muscular torque and gait speed in chronic hemiparetic subjects
Cecilia Nasciutti-Prudente1, Fabiana G Oliveira, Sandra F Houri
1Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Purpose:
To identify which paretic and non-paretic muscular groups of the lower limbs were the best predictors of gait speed in chronic hemiparetic subjects.
Method:
Twelve hemiparetic subjects with ages ranging from 65 to 75 years (70.67 +/- 3.31 years) were included in this cross-sectional study. All participants had time since onset of stroke of at least six months and the ability to walk independently. Main outcome measures included self-selected gait speed and maximum isometric torques of both the paretic and non-paretic lower limbs. Pearson's correlation coefficients and stepwise regression analysis were employed to investigate the level of associations between the outcome variables.
Results:
Mean gait speed was 0.65 +/- 0.33 ms(-1). There were significant differences (p < 0.01) in torques values between paretic and non-paretic lower limbs for all assessed muscular groups. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that the most important independent variable for predicting gait speed was the isometric torque of paretic knee flexors ([image omitted] ). No significant associations were found between any torque values of the non-paretic side and gait speed.
Conclusions:
The paretic knee flexors were shown to play an important role in predicting gait speed after stroke, but no influences were found for the muscular groups of the non-paretic side. Therefore, findings of the present study suggest that paretic knee flexors torque should be addressed in rehabilitation programmes aiming to improve gait speed after stroke.
