• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.145-151
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• 2022

Purpose : Stroke patients exhibit abnormal walking patterns such as slow walking speed and asymmetrical walking values. The recovery of symmetrical walking in the stance phase using a treadmill means improvements in walking speed and asymmetrical walking. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of unilateral step treadmill training (USTT) on gait speed and the recovery of symmetrical walking in chronic stroke patients. Methods : Fifteen patients (11 men and 4 women) with chronic stroke participated in this study. The 10-meter walk test (10MWT) and GAITRite system were used to determine the intervention-related changes in gait speed and symmetrical walking values such as non-paretic step length (NSL), non-paretic step time (NST), paretic single-support time (PSST), step length asymmetry (SLA), and step time asymmetry (STA) after USTT. All participants completed USTT and underwent measurements at 3 different times: at pretest, posttest, and the follow-up test. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to compare walking speed and asymmetrical walking values. The statistical significance level was set at p<.05. Results : Walking speed by 10MWT (p<.05) showed significant improvements after USTT as follows: at pretest and posttest (p<.05), posttest and follow-up test (p<.05), and pretest and follow-up test (p<.05). Recovery of symmetrical walking patterns such as NSL (p<.05), NST (p<.05), and SLA (p<.05) were observed after USTT. However, no significant improvements were found in PSST (p>.05) and STA (p>.05) in symmetrical gait. Conclusion : This study suggests that USTT may have a positive effect on walking speed and symmetrical walking patterns in chronic stroke patients. Thus, this study contributes to the existing knowledge about the usefulness of USTT for the effective management of patients with chronic stroke. Further studies are needed to generalize these findings.