High-intensity Step Training Promotes Stroke Survivors' Walking Skills

High-intensity step training that imitates real-world conditions help improve walking ability in stroke survivors than traditional, low-impact training, finds a new study.

High-intensity step training may help improve walking ability in stroke survivors compared to traditional, low-impact training, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Stroke.

"People who suffer strokes often have difficulty walking and impaired balance. Rehabilitation after a stroke traditionally focuses on patients practicing low-intensity walking, usually only in a forward direction, which does not provide enough of a challenge to the nervous system to enable patients to negotiate real-world situations, such as uneven surfaces, stairs or changing direction," said study author T. George Hornby, Ph.D., professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

How to Deal with a Stroke - Signs - Symptoms - Risk Factors - Prevention
Stroke is a brain attack, which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted. It affects all age groups; according to the WHO, 15 million people are affected by stroke annually.

‘High-intensity step training improves walking ability and gait symmetry than low-intensity training in individuals with chronic stroke. ’
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"Our study suggests that stroke patients can perform higher intensity walking exercises and more difficult tasks than previously thought possible. We need to move beyond traditional, low-intensity rehabilitation to challenge the nervous and cardiovascular systems so patients can improve function and perform better in the real world."

Researchers evaluated 90 people, 18- to 85-years-old with weakness on one side of the body who had survived a stroke at least six months prior.

Participants received training of either high-intensity stepping performing variable, difficult tasks; high-intensity stepping performing only forward walking; or low-intensity stepping of variable tasks. Variable tasks included walking on uneven surfaces, up inclines and stairs, over randomly placed obstacles on a treadmill and across a balance beam.

Aerobic Exercise can Improve Endurance, Walking in Disabled Stroke Patients
Is aerobic exercise good after a stroke? Yes, doing a set of aerobic exercises every day can ultimately enhance strength and endurance, thereby helping stroke patients to regain the ability to walk again.

The researchers found:

Survivors in both the high-intensity, variable training and high-intensity, forward walking groups walked faster and farther than the low-intensity, variable training group.
For all walking outcomes, 57% to 80% of participants in the high-intensity groups had important clinical gains, while only 9% to 31% of participants did so following low-intensity training.
High-intensity variable training also resulted in improved dynamic balance while walking and improved balance confidence.

Hornby noted that no serious adverse events occurred during the training sessions, suggesting stroke survivors can be pushed to higher intensity walking with more variable tasks during rehabilitation.