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Updated: Oct 26, 2026
Asymmetric Walkway: A Novel Behavioral Assay for Studying Asymmetric Locomotion
Published on: January 15, 2016
Trunk Acceleration and Lower-limb Kinematics after Cerebellar Stroke: Associations with Walking Speed and Clinical
Yuichiro Yamasaki1,2, Naomichi Mizuta3,4, Sora Ohnishi5,4
1Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University, 4-2-2 Umaminaka, Kitakatsuragi-gun, Koryo, Nara, 635-0832, Japan. osuitirou1206@gmail.com.
Abstract:
The relationship between gait characteristics and clinical ataxia severity, after accounting for walking speed, remains insufficiently characterized following cerebellar stroke. We examined direction-specific trunk acceleration and lower-limb kinematics during comfortable walking. This multicenter cross-sectional study included 55 patients with subacute cerebellar stroke and 56 healthy controls. Inertial measurements quantified lower-limb kinematics, trunk acceleration root mean square (RMS; without speed normalization), and sample entropy (SampEn). Analyses included group-by-speed models, speed-matched one-dimensional statistical parametric mapping, and exploratory patient-only, speed-adjusted regressions and partial Spearman correlations with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA). Patients walked more slowly, with lower anteroposterior and mediolateral RMS but higher anteroposterior and vertical SampEn. After speed adjustment, each five-point higher SARA score was associated with smaller peak limb flexion (- 1.01°; 95% confidence interval, - 1.99 to - 0.02) and less-negative extension (+ 1.21°; 0.08 to 2.34), both with Benjamini-Hochberg-adjusted P = 0.045. None of the six full-cohort group-by-speed interactions met the adjusted significance criterion. In speed-matched comparisons (11 per group), significant waveform differences were confined to limb angles near the beginning and end of the gait cycle. In speed-adjusted rank analyses, vertical RMS correlated with SARA (partial ρ = 0.471) and limb angles, but the original-scale linear SARA coefficient remained uncertain. Vertical SampEn showed no clear association with SARA or limb kinematics. Higher ataxia severity was associated with smaller whole-limb excursions in speed-adjusted models. These exploratory findings support interpreting trunk acceleration magnitude and regularity alongside whole-limb movement and clinical severity.
