Background: Generating appropriate balancing reactions in response to unexpected loss of balance during walking is important to prevent falls. The purpose of this study was to assess dynamic balancing responses following pushes to the pelvis in groups of post-stroke and healthy subjects.
Methods: Forty-one post-stroke subjects and forty-three healthy subjects participated in the study. Dynamic balancing responses to perturbations triggered at heel strike of the left or right leg, directed in the forward, backward, inward and outward directions during slow treadmill walking were assessed. Responses of the healthy group provided reference values used to classify responses of the post-stroke group into two subgroups; one within the reference responses (“inside” subgroup) and the other that falls out (“outside” subgroup). A battery of selected clinical outcome measures (6-Minute Walk Test, 10-Meter Walk Test, Timed-Up-and-Go test, Four Square Step Test, Functional Gait Assessment, Functional Independence Measure and One-legged stance test) was assessed for the post-stroke group to examine whether any of these outcome measures could discriminate between both subgroups.
Results: Both subgroups of stroke subjects were comparable in terms of clinical outcome measures but their capacity to react to unexpected loss of balance during walking differed considerably. The “inside” subgroup was able to appropriately modulate centre-of-pressure and ground-reaction-force both under the impaired and non-impaired leg. The “outside” subgroup showed limited modulation capacity under the impaired leg; their responses utilised a stepping strategy in which the non-impaired leg was placed such as to make a longer step (forward perturbation), to make a shorter step (backward perturbation) or to make a cross-step (outward perturbation). Consequently, peak centre-of-mass displacements following perturbations were significantly higher in the “outside” subgroup compared to the “inside” subgroup. Responses in both subgroups following inward perturbations did not differ considerably. One-legged stance test showed the largest potential to discriminate between both subgroups of stroke subjects.
Conclusions: The One-legged stance test could be used to obtain an indication of the abilities of each particular post-stroke subject to counteract an unexpected loss of balance. This may be relevant in clinical practice for the identification of post-stroke subjects who could benefit from perturbation-based training.

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The full text of this article is available to read as a PDF.
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On 22 Jun, 2020
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On 12 Feb, 2020
On 12 Feb, 2020
On 22 Jun, 2020
On 18 Jun, 2020
On 17 Jun, 2020
On 17 Jun, 2020
On 17 Jun, 2020
Received 03 Jun, 2020
On 26 May, 2020
Invitations sent on 20 May, 2020
On 19 May, 2020
On 18 May, 2020
On 18 May, 2020
Received 15 May, 2020
On 15 May, 2020
Received 07 May, 2020
On 04 May, 2020
On 29 Apr, 2020
Invitations sent on 29 Apr, 2020
On 29 Apr, 2020
On 28 Apr, 2020
On 28 Apr, 2020
Posted 17 Feb, 2020
On 20 Apr, 2020
Received 17 Apr, 2020
Received 17 Apr, 2020
Received 05 Apr, 2020
On 30 Mar, 2020
On 29 Mar, 2020
On 24 Mar, 2020
On 27 Feb, 2020
Invitations sent on 18 Feb, 2020
On 13 Feb, 2020
On 12 Feb, 2020
On 12 Feb, 2020
On 12 Feb, 2020
Background: Generating appropriate balancing reactions in response to unexpected loss of balance during walking is important to prevent falls. The purpose of this study was to assess dynamic balancing responses following pushes to the pelvis in groups of post-stroke and healthy subjects.
Methods: Forty-one post-stroke subjects and forty-three healthy subjects participated in the study. Dynamic balancing responses to perturbations triggered at heel strike of the left or right leg, directed in the forward, backward, inward and outward directions during slow treadmill walking were assessed. Responses of the healthy group provided reference values used to classify responses of the post-stroke group into two subgroups; one within the reference responses (“inside” subgroup) and the other that falls out (“outside” subgroup). A battery of selected clinical outcome measures (6-Minute Walk Test, 10-Meter Walk Test, Timed-Up-and-Go test, Four Square Step Test, Functional Gait Assessment, Functional Independence Measure and One-legged stance test) was assessed for the post-stroke group to examine whether any of these outcome measures could discriminate between both subgroups.
Results: Both subgroups of stroke subjects were comparable in terms of clinical outcome measures but their capacity to react to unexpected loss of balance during walking differed considerably. The “inside” subgroup was able to appropriately modulate centre-of-pressure and ground-reaction-force both under the impaired and non-impaired leg. The “outside” subgroup showed limited modulation capacity under the impaired leg; their responses utilised a stepping strategy in which the non-impaired leg was placed such as to make a longer step (forward perturbation), to make a shorter step (backward perturbation) or to make a cross-step (outward perturbation). Consequently, peak centre-of-mass displacements following perturbations were significantly higher in the “outside” subgroup compared to the “inside” subgroup. Responses in both subgroups following inward perturbations did not differ considerably. One-legged stance test showed the largest potential to discriminate between both subgroups of stroke subjects.
Conclusions: The One-legged stance test could be used to obtain an indication of the abilities of each particular post-stroke subject to counteract an unexpected loss of balance. This may be relevant in clinical practice for the identification of post-stroke subjects who could benefit from perturbation-based training.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

Figure 14
The full text of this article is available to read as a PDF.
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