Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Motor Dual-Tasks for Gait Analysis and Evaluation in Post-Stroke Patients
Published on: March 11, 2021
Speed of voluntary stepping in chronic stroke survivors under single- and dual-task conditions: a case-control study
Itshak Melzer1, Irit Tzedek, Michal Or
1Schwartz Movement Analysis & Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. itzikm@bgu.ac.il
Objective:
To investigate voluntary step behavior of chronic stroke survivors during single- and dual-task conditions and compare the results to healthy age- and sex-matched controls.
Design:
Case-control.
Setting:
Laboratory-based study.
Participants:
Chronic stroke survivors (n=16) and healthy controls (n=16).
Interventions:
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures:
Forward and backward rapid voluntary stepping were performed as a reaction time task under 2 conditions: (1) awaiting a cutaneous cue (single task), and (2) awaiting a cutaneous cue while performing an attention-demanding task. Step initiation, preparatory and swing phases, foot-off time, and foot-contact time were extracted from center of pressure and ground reaction forceplate data.
Results:
Chronic stroke survivors were significantly slower than healthy controls in all step parameters under single- and dual-task conditions. For dual compared with single task, the foot-contact time increased from 1295 ms to 1445 ms (12%) in chronic stroke survivors and from 876 ms to 1006 ms (15%) in controls.
Conclusions:
The significant increase in step phase's duration during single- and dual-task conditions may be a factor contributing to the large number of falls seen in stroke patients. The interference effects of attention-demanding task were similar between groups, suggesting that both groups used similar strategies. Future research should determine whether step training can improve step decrements in chronic stroke survivors.
