Affiliations: [a] Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| [b] Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Hwaseong, Republic of Korea
| [c] BK21-Y-BASE R&E Institute, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Min Ho Chun, MD, PhD, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 05505, Republic of Korea. Tel.: 82 2 3010 3791; Fax: 82 2 3010 6964; E-mail: mhchun@amc.seoul.kr.; ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8666-7225
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of the robot–assisted gait training on cortical activation and functional outcomes in stroke patients. METHODS:The patients were randomly assigned: training with Morning Walk® (Morning Walk group; n = 30); conventional physiotherapy (control group; n = 30). Rehabilitation was performed five times a week for 3 weeks. The primary outcome was the cortical activation in the Morning Walk group. The secondary outcomes included gait speed, 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT), FAC, Motricity Index–Lower (MI–Lower), Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS). RESULTS:Thirty-six subjects were analyzed, 18 in the Morning Walk group and 18 in the control group. The cortical activation was lower in affected hemisphere than unaffected hemisphere at the beginning of robot rehabilitation. After training, the affected hemisphere achieved a higher increase in cortical activation than the unaffected hemisphere. Consequently, the cortical activation in affected hemisphere was significantly higher than that in unaffected hemisphere (P = 0.036). FAC, MBI, BBS, and RMI scores significantly improved in both groups. The Morning Walk group had significantly greater improvements than the control group in 10MWT (P = 0.017), gait speed (P = 0.043), BBS (P = 0.010), and MI–Lower (P = 0.047) scores. CONCLUSION:Robot-assisted gait training not only improved functional outcomes but also increased cortical activation in stroke patients.
