BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The mechanisms underlying motor recovery after stroke are not fully understood. Several studies used functional MRI longitudinally to relate brain activity changes with performance gains of the upper limb after therapy, but research into training-induced recovery of lower limb function has been relatively neglected thus far. METHODS We investigated functional reorganiza...

Robotic lower limb exoskeletons that can alter joint mechanical power output are novel tools for studying the relationship between the mechanics and energetics of human locomotion. We built pneumatically powered ankle exoskeletons controlled by the user's own soleus electromyography (i.e. proportional myoelectric control) to determine whether mechanical assistance at the ankle joint could reduc...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A new gait training strategy for patients with stroke proposes to support a percentage of the patient's body weight while retraining gait on a treadmill. This research project intended to compare the effects of gait training with body weight support (BWS) and with no body weight support (no-BWS) on clinical outcome measures for patients with stroke. METHODS One hundred ...

After Cerebro-Vascular Accident (CVA), restoration of normal function, such as locomotion, depends on reorganization of existing central nervous system (CNS) circuitry. This capacity for reorganization, generally referred to as plasticity, is thought to underlie many instances of functional recovery after injury as well as learning and memory in the undamaged CNS. Both the reorganization of the...

BACKGROUND To study ground reaction force (GRF) patterns in stroke patients with various degrees of motor recovery, using plantar dynamic analysis. METHODS Forty-three people with hemiplegic stroke and 20 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. Motor impairment (motor recovery and muscle tone) and plantar dynamic data (GRF patterns, peak pressure, and walking speeds) were analyzed. GRF p...

In recent years, our understanding of the spinal cord's role in movement control has been greatly advanced. Research suggests that body weight support (BWS) walking and functional electrical stimulation (FES), techniques that are used by physical therapists, have potential to improve walking function in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), perhaps long after the stage of spontaneous recov...