The influence of merged muscle excitation modules on post-stroke hemiparetic walking performance

Post-stroke subjects with hemiparesis typically utilize a reduced number of modules or co-excited muscles compared to non-impaired controls, with at least one module resembling the merging of two or more non-impaired modules. In non-impaired walking, each module has distinct contributions to important biomechanical functions, and thus different merged module combinations post-stroke may result in different functional consequences.

Three-dimensional forward dynamics simulations were developed for non-impaired controls and two groups of post-stroke hemiparetic subjects with different merged module combinations to analyze how paretic leg muscle contributions to body support, forward propulsion, mediolateral control and leg swing are altered.

The potential of the plantarflexors to generate propulsion was impaired in both hemiparetic groups while the remaining functional consequences differed depending on which modules were merged. Paretic leg swing was impaired during pre-swing when Modules 1 (hip abductors and knee extensors during early stance), and 2 (plantarflexors during late stance) were merged and during late swing when Modules 1 and 4 (hamstrings during late swing into early stance) were merged. When Modules 1 and 4 were merged, body support during early stance was also impaired.

These results suggest that improving plantarflexor ability to generate propulsion is critical during rehabilitation regardless of module composition. If Modules 1 and 2 are merged, then rehabilitation should also focus on improving paretic leg pre-swing whereas if Modules 1 and 4 are merged, then rehabilitation should also focus on improving early stance body support and late paretic leg swing.