Walking with rhythmic auditory stimulation in chronic patients after stroke: A pilot randomized controlled trial

Abstract

ObjectivesThere is a lack of studies that evaluate the effects of different gait training (GT) interventions for patients after stroke in an outpatient setting. The aim of the present trial therefore was to evaluate the effects of two different outpatient GT programmes after chronic stroke.MethodsWe randomly allocated patients into two groups of either a 4‐week overground GT with rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS, n = 6) of 30 min, three times a week over 4 weeks or an overground GT without RAS (GT, n = 6) with same duration and intensity. Primary outcomes were walking velocity and capacity; secondary outcomes were the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and stride length before and after interventions and at 12 weeks follow‐up.ResultsTwelve patients after stroke (nine females; mean [SD] age 67 [9] years; duration of illness 67 [69] months; all left‐sided strokes) were included. Patients improved their walking velocity from baseline until the end of GT (RAS: median difference 0.05 m/s [interquartile range, IQR 0.06] and GT: 0.12 m/s [0.29]) and walking capacity (RAS: median difference 14 m [IQR 14] and GT: 41 m [79]). However, RAS and GT did not differ significantly (p = .30 and p = .30, respectively). Patients improved from baseline until the end of intervention in BBS (RAS: median difference 4 points [IQR 4] and GT: 1 point [3]) and stride length (RAS: median difference 6.3 cm [IQR 12.1] and GT: 5.5 cm [8.8]). However, BBS and stride length did not differ significantly between groups (p = .08 and p = .58, respectively).ConclusionWalking with rhythmic auditory stimulation in chronic patients after stroke does not provide a beneficial effect on walking when compared with walking without rhythmic auditory stimulation.

Neurologic Music Therapy via Telehealth: A Survey of Clinician Experiences, Trends, and Recommendations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…of gait function with supporting evidence from randomized control trials and studies in Parkinson's disease (Cubo et al, 2004;Murgia et al, 2018;Thaut et al, 2019), stroke (Thaut et al, 2007;Cha et al, 2014;Mainka et al, 2018;Elsner et al, 2020), cerebral palsy (Kim et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2013), and multiple sclerosis (Seebacher et al, 2017). RAS is supported by numerous lines of fundamental neuroscience evidence, including a recent finding that RAS attenuates dopamine response in younger adults (Koshimori et al, 2019).…”

Effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation on motor function and balance ability in stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical randomized controlled studies

“…The studies evaluated based on the PEDro scale are listed in Table 1 . Two studies (Kim et al, 2012 ; Yu-ge et al, 2016 ) had low quality, three studies (Thaut et al, 2007 ; Mainka et al, 2018 ; Elsner et al, 2020 ) had excellent quality, and the other studies had good quality.…”

Effect of Treadmill Training with Visual Biofeedback on Selected Gait Parameters in Subacute Hemiparetic Stroke Patients

“…The Romberg test is used to diagnose gait disorders caused by incorrect proprioception with information about the location of the joints. It is a sensitive tool that accurately measures the degree of imbalance caused by central and peripheral vertigo and head trauma [ 6 , 26 ]. Clinically, the Romberg test has been used for 150 years to evaluate patients with impaired balance due to sensory and motor disorders [ 26 ].…”

“…This variable becomes a new value depending on age or sex. Oatis [ 5 ] assumes that in a healthy adult, the average stride length is 0.7 to 0.81 m. Previous studies have also shown that the intermediate step length in people after stroke is 0.36 to 0.6 m [ 2 , 6 , 7 ]. Undoubtedly, the improvement of gait is aimed at improving the symmetry of step length, which means the similar step length of both limbs…”