Immediate effects of a novel walking assist device with auxiliary illuminator on patients after acute strokes

Many patients after acute stage of stroke are present with abnormal gait pattern due to weakness or hypertonicity of the affected limbs. Facilitation of normal gait is a primary goal of rehabilitation on these patients.

We aimed to investigate whether walking assist device with auxiliary illuminator (quad-cane with laser) providing visual feedback during ambulation could improve parameters of gait cycle immediately among patients with subacute and chronic stroke.

This was a cross-sectional study and 30 participants (male 23, female 7, group 1) with mean age $$ years were recruited. Among them, 22 used ankle-foot orthosis [(AFO), group 2] and 8 did not use AFO (group 3) at usual walking. All the participants walked along a strait corridor with even surface for 20 m without and with using a quad-cane with laser, respectively. A gait analyzer (Reha-Watch1 system) was used to measure the changes of the parameters of gait cycle, including stride length, cadence, gait speed, stance phase, swing phase, duration of single support and double support, the angle between toes and the ground at the time of toe-off (the toe-off angle) and the angle between calcaneus and the ground at the time of heel-strike (the heel-strike angle), before and with the use of a quad-cane with laser.

The increase in the heel-strike angle reached a significant difference in groups 1 2, and 3 ( $$ , and $$ , respectively). However, the stride length, the gait speed, the cadence, percentage of the stance phase, swing phase, single-support phase, and double-support phase in a gait cycle, and the toe-off angle showed no significant change with the use of quad-cane with laser.

Patients after acute stroke had an immediate and significant increase in the heel-stroke angle by using a quad-cane with laser during ambulation, which might help the patients to reduce knee hyperextension moment and lessen the pressure of heel at loading phase.