[Rehabilitation of stroke patients with gait disturbance]

Abstract Most stroke patients who have lost the ability to walking hope to recover this walking ability. In such cases, generation of adaptive gait patterns and development of realistic walking systems could aid in the performance of various activities. It is reported that the adaptive gait control patterns are generated by various neural domains, including the cerebral cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord, and are modurated by the basal ganglia and cerebellum. Walking dysfunctions after stroke are caused by abnormal reactivity, perception, cognition, plan for the locomotion and its constitution, muscle tone, and attitudinal reflexes. These abnormalities adversely affect posture and movement pattern, and give rise to dysrhythmia. Additionally, stroke patients suffer from disorders of higher brain functions. Thus, it is more difficult to generate adaptive gait patterns in such patients. However, there are few studies on concrete rehabilitation programs for patients with adaptive gait disturbance. In this paper, we introduce constitutive treatment methods for the recovery of walking function in our clinical setting and the task-oriented rehabilitation strategies for adaptation of realistic walking systems.