None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
There is some evidence that electromechanical gait trainers (GT) combined with conventional physiotherapy may have equivalent or better efficacy than conventional physiotherapy alone when retraining ambulation in sub-acute stroke patients. However, no studies have measured effects on quality of life or health status, nor have they evaluated cost effectiveness This study thus aimed to compare the efficacy and cost effectiveness of electromechanical gait trainers (GT) combined with conventional physiotherapy than conventional physiotherapy alone when retraining ambulation in sub-acute stroke patients.
Interventions
The electromechanical gait trainer (GT) is a gait training machine which uses 2 driven footplates to simulate the phases of gait. Participants would be put into this GT by two therapy assistants.
The GT group received 45 minutes of physiotherapy 6 times per week for 8 weeks, comprising 20 minutes of GT training, 5 minutes of stance/gait training, 10 minutes of standing and 10 minutes of cycling.
10 minutes of standing and 10 minutes of cycling were assisted by two TAs with the help of an alarm
The electromechanical gait trainer (GT) is a gait training machine which uses 2 driven footplates to simulate the phases of gait. Participants would be put into this GT by two therapy assistants. The GT group received 45 minutes of physiotherapy 6 times per week for 8 weeks, comprising 20 minutes of GT training, 5 minutes of stance/gait training, 10 minutes of standing and 10 minutes of cycling. 10 minutes of standing and 10 minutes of cycling were assisted by two TAs with the help of an alarm clock. Each stance and gait training session was structured to be 5 minutes. It was delivered face-to-face individually by an experienced physiotherapist with at least 5 years of working experience in the neurological field. A progression of task difficulty in terms walking and dynamic standing balance was tailored to suit participants' capability. There were no intervention adherence assessments by external parties.
Sponsors
St. Andrew's Community hospital
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria were: 1) unilateral hemorrhagic/ischemic stroke 2) age 18-80 years 3) independent ambulation pre-stroke
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria were: 1) >8 weeks post-stroke 2) Functional Ambulation Category (FAC) >4 3) Cardiovascular instability 4) Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) <16
Outcome results
None listed