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Wacko Treadmill Raises Hope For Stroke Victims
August 13, 2007 at 3:46 PM
General Health News
The custom-built treadmill hides a split belt - one side can move one foot backward while the other moves forward, and at different speeds. While doing so, the brain has to automatically adjust the mode of walking to prevent falling.
Scientists at the Kennedy Krieger Institute say they are tapping into an unconscious adjustment, using a brief workout to jolt patients who usually limp and lurch, back into a normal stride- one they can retain for a few minutes after the treadmill stops.
Accordingly, separate nerve networks control how each leg moves and these networks can be retrained to change someone's innate walking patterns.
Yet the challenge to make better walking permanent remains. This year, lead researcher Dr Amy Bastian will begin a study putting at least 40 stroke survivors through longer sessions with the wacky treadmill, to see if practice helps the improvement stick.
Kennedy Krieger hopes to eventually begin a similar study with children recovering from major brain surgery. These findings offer a glimpse into the newest frontier in rehabilitation research: How to spur brain and spinal cord circuitry to rewire itself for normal leg control after a stroke or other brain injury.
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More News on: Bells Palsy, Diet Lifestyle and Heart Disease, Mitral Valve Stenosis And Mitral Valve Replacement, Congenital Heart Disease, Stress and the Gender Divide, Stroke Facts, Stroke, Geriatry-Related Diseases, Hyperventilation, Exercise and Fitness
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