Naomichi Mizuta and Shu Morioka, who are in the doctoral program at Kio University Graduate School, have described the gait characteristics of stroke patients whose lower limb motor paralysis is relatively mild but whose walking speed is slow. It was clarified from the viewpoint of mechanics.
Walking speed in stroke patients is thought to be associated with the severity of motor paralysis of the lower extremities.On the other hand, when observing individual cases, there are a certain number of cases in which the walking speed is reduced even though the motor paralysis is mild.This time, we examined the factors of such a group of cases that deviated from the relationship between the severity of motor paralysis and walking speed.
First, we conducted a 10-meter walking test at a comfortable speed and evaluated the severity of motor paralysis in stroke patients who could walk without assistance.A positive correlation was found between the severity of motor paralysis and walking speed in the subjects, but as expected, some cases deviated from this relationship.Therefore, we classified the cases into five subgroups (clusters) including "cases with mild motor paralysis but slow walking speed" using cluster analysis.
Examining the trunk acceleration and muscle activity waveforms in each cluster, it was found that in the group of "cases with mild motor paralysis but slow walking speed", trunk sway was large and simultaneous contraction of the lower leg muscles was high. rice field.In addition, intermuscular coherence, which reflects interference from the cerebral cortex, was the highest in this group.These results indicate instability during walking, inefficiency of exercise, and excessive cortical control, and are considered to be the cause of the decrease in walking speed.
From the above, in cases where walking is slow even with mild motor paralysis, although motor function remains relatively, it remains due to instability of the trunk, simultaneous contraction of lower limb muscles, and excessive cerebral cortex control. It was suggested that the function may have been masked.In the future, the researchers would like to clarify the factors that contribute to the recovery of walking ability in these cases.
Paper information:[Scientific Reports] Walking characteristics including mild motor paralysis and slow walking speed in post-stroke patients