Special Treadmill Helps Stroke Patients Walk

For the more than 700,000 people who experience a stroke each year, many never regain the ability to walk like they did prior to their stroke. However, PTs, using a specialized treadmill, have discovered a new way to help stroke patients walk again—correctly.

The results of their study, conducted at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR), appear in the April 2008 issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Often times, during rehabilitation, stroke patients develop an abnormal gait pattern, which can be difficult and sometimes impossible to correct.

“Gait impairment is common after a stroke with many survivors living with a walking-related disability, despite extensive rehabilitation,” says Karen McCain, DPT, lead investigator of the study at BIR. “Walking incorrectly not only creates a stigma for these patients, but it also makes them more susceptible to injury and directly affects their quality of life.”

After completing the pilot study, all seven of the patients enrolled were able to walk with a basically normal gait pattern, all without the use of even a cane.

“In my 14 years as a physical therapist I have not treated seven stroke patients total that walk this well. We are definitely on to something.”

Lisa Day, a 44 year-old with no family history of stroke, was completely paralyzed on her left side after experiencing a stroke in September 2007. Within three weeks of sessions on the treadmill she was walking again the way she did prior to her stroke.

“I brought a wheelchair home from the hospital in case I needed it, but I only used it twice. To see me walk, you would never know that I had a stroke,” says Day.

Lisa is now back on the treadmill again—this time for exercise—and walks over a mile several days a week.

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