AUTHOR=Pan Jing Wen , Sidarta Ananda , Wu Tsung-Lin , Kwong Wai Hang Patrick , Ong Poo Lee , Tay Matthew Rong Jie , Phua Min Wee , Chong Wei Binh , Ang Wei Tech , Chua Karen Sui Geok 

TITLE=Unraveling stroke gait deviations with movement analytics, more than meets the eye: a case control study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 18 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2024.1425183

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2024.1425183

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Background: This study aimed to identify and quantify the kinematic and kinetic gait deviations in post-stroke hemiplegic patients with matched healthy controls using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM).
Methods: Fifteen chronic stroke patients [4 females, 11 males; age 53.7 (standard deviation 12.2) years; body mass 65.4 (10.4) kg; standing height 168.5 (9.6) cm] and 15 matched healthy controls [4 females, 11 males; age 52.9 (11.7) years; body weight 66.5 (10.7) years; standing height 168.3 (8.8) cm] were recruited. In a 10-m walking task, joint angles, ground reaction forces (GRF), and joint moments were collected, analyzed, and compared using the Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) for an entire gait cycle.
Results: Generally, when comparing the stroke patients’ affected (hemiplegic) and less-affected (contralateral) limbs with the control group, SPM identified significant differences in the late stance phase and early swing phase in the joint angles and moments in bilateral limbs (all p < 0.005). In addition, the vertical and anteroposterior components of GRF were significantly different in various periods of the stance phase (all p < 0.005), while the mediolateral component showed no differences between the two groups.
Conclusions: SPM was able to detect abnormal gait patterns in both the affected and less-affected limbs of stroke patients with significant differences when compared with matched controls. The findings draw attention to significant quantifiable gait deviations in the less-affected post-stroke limb with the potential impact to inform gait retraining strategies for clinicians and physiotherapists.