The Effect of Various Walkway Lengths on Comfortable and Maximum Gait Speed in Patients With Subacute Stroke

Gait speed is a key indicator of functional recovery and activity performance in patients with subacute stroke. However, walkway length for gait speed assessment has not been standardized, and findings regarding its influence remain inconsistent. This study investigated the test-retest reliabilities of comfortable gait speed (CGS) and fast gait speed (FGS) across 5-, 8-, and 10-m walkways in patients with subacute stroke and examined the effects of walkway length on both measures.

This retrospective cross-sectional study included 21 patients with subacute stroke. Participants completed six experimental conditions in a randomized order to assess test-retest reliabilities and performance times for CGS and FGS on 5-, 8-, and 10-m walkways.

The reliability of CGS for the 5-, 8-, and 10-m walk tests was excellent, with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of 0.986-0.995. FGS also showed excellent reliability for the 5-, 8-, and 10-m walk tests, with ICCs of 0.985-0.994. There were no significant differences in CGS across the 5-, 8-, and 10-m tests. However, significant differences were observed in FGS for the 10-m walk test compared with the 5-m and 8-m walk tests. Additionally, there were significant differences between CGS and FGS for each of the 5-, 8-, and 10-m walk tests.

Within this study population of patients with subacute stroke who could walk independently without gait assistive devices, walkway length may influence the assessment of FGS in clinical settings. A 5-m walkway may still provide a reliable option for measuring CGS in space-limited environments, whereas a longer walkway may be more appropriate for assessing FGS.