Correlation Between Clinical Status and Gait Performance of Hemiplegic Stroke Patients

The objectives of this study were to assess the gait patterns of stroke patients, and to evaluate the correlation between gait variables and clinical status of stroke patients. A Motion Analysis System was used to collect gait data of temporal-spatial and kinematic variables from stroke patients and age-matched controls. Twenty-three ambulatory stroke patients (age 55±10 years; time since stroke 9.7±7.1 months) were analyzed. Nine age-matched healthy elderly subjects were recruited as a control group. Stroke patients had slower walking speed, increased stance period and decreased swing period in the unaffected limb. Gait symmetry was compromised. The temporal-spatial variables could not be discriminated between motor recovery stage 3 and stage 4, or between stage 5 and stage 6, but improved from stages 3 & 4 to stages 5 & 6. On the other hand, these variables could be more clearly discriminated among three groups of walking velocity as the gait speeds were separated into slow (＜ 20 cm/sec), medium (20-50 cm/sec), and fast (＞ 50 cm/sec) groups. The three dimensional kinematic variables showed that the differences in range of motion of lower limb joints were significantly correlated with the differences in groups of walking velocity rather than with that in stages of motor recovery. Our data concluded that temporal-spatial and kinematic variables of gait in stroke patients are better characterized by gait speed rather than by motor recovery stage.