Visual stimulation in automated gait rehabilitation for post-stroke patients

This paper presents a visual stimulation system for an automated trainer employing neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) principles. The traditional NDT can promote gait performance through repetitive tactile cues; however, its effectiveness is constrained by the need for continuous therapist involvement. Therefore, previous studies have presented automated gait trainers, which were capable of replicating tactile therapeutic interventions for gait rehabilitation. Recognizing the importance of visual perception in gait rehabilitation, we developed a visual stimulation system that incorporates both visual feedback training and action observation training to enhance rehabilitation outcomes. The visual system was then integrated with the NDT trainer to deliver synchronized tactile and visual cues during the rehabilitation sessions. We invited healthy individuals and post-stroke patients to participate in experiments and evaluated the rehabilitation effects. Based on the results, the visual stimulation system is shown to be effective in improving gait performance.