The energy cost of level walking in patients with hemiplegia

Abstract

The energy cost of level walking (C,) was measured from the ratio of O2 consumption to speed (from 0.1 to 1.2 m-s-') in hemiplegic patients (n=20) and in a control group of healthy subjects (n=17). Average age and body mass were 58, 54 years and 73, 78 kg, respectively. In hemiplegic patients C, was higher than in control subjects (average value at 1 .O m-s-' =3.6 and 3.3 J.m-'.kg-', respectively) and this difference increased at lower speeds (from 5.1% at 1.2 m-s-' to 28.7% at 0.1 m.s-').

Changes in the Lactate Threshold During Treadmill Exercise After Microsphere-Induced Infarction in Rats

“…Most stroke patients show impaired equilibrium function and unstable gait patterns [11]. Energy expenditure in stroke patients was higher than that in healthy subjects during walking at a slow speed [12]. Thus, impairments in smooth motion and equilibrium function might cause a rapid increase in the blood lactate concentration during treadmill exercise even at low speed.…”

“…After stroke, most patients show impaired equilibrium function and their gait patterns are unstable [11]. Energy expenditure in stroke patients was higher than that in healthy subjects during walking at a slow speed [12]. This relative increase in energy expenditure during walking at the same speed may accelerate the switching from aerobic metabolism to anaerobic metabolism.…”

Association Between Gait Asymmetry and Brain Lesion Location in Stroke Patients

“…[42][43][44] Along with improving symmetry, gait training techniques with an aerobic component offer additional benefits such as increasing ambulatory endurance, 45 which has been shown to be significantly reduced in persons with stroke. 4 A potential weakness of the present study was that ROIs were transformed to the right hemisphere. While differences in the amount of gray and white matter between the cerebral hemispheres have been shown, 46 these anatomic asymmetries may not be a substantial factor in our investigation given that the subcortical structure implicated in our analysis is relatively symmetrical in size and location within both hemispheres.…”

“…1 While it has been reported that 60% to 80% of stroke survivors are able to ambulate independently on discharge from rehabilitation, 2,3 many exhibit hemiparetic gait which limits function. 4,5 Several electromyographic studies have revealed altered motor patterning of lower extremity muscles in hemiparetic gait. 6,7 Similarly, the altered spatial and temporal characteristics of hemiparetic gait have been well-described.…”

Measuring movement fluency during the sit-to-walk task

“…Improving movement fluency is perceived by therapists to be associated with improvements in function [6], and has been shown to relate to energy cost [33]. It is a key objective of the predominant approach to neurorehabilitation in the United Kingdom [23,31].…”