Effects of Inclined Treadmill Walking Training with Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation on Balance and Gait in Stroke Patients: A pilot study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify whether inclined treadmill gait training with rhythmic auditory simulation (RAS) could improve on balance and gait in stroke patients. Method: Fifteen stroke patients who had agreed with the study were allocated to the group 1(n=5), group 2(n=5), or group 3(n=5). The group 1, group 2 and group 3 performed RAS with inclined treadmill gait training, inclined treadmill gait training and treadmill without incline gait training respectively for 3 weeks (30 minutes per session, 5 times in a week). The balance was assessed using Timed Up & Go (TUG) and Berg Balance Sale (BBS), and the gait was evaluated using 6 Minutes Walking Test (6MWT) and spatio-temporal walking variables as walking speed, cadence, Single Limb Support of affected side(SLS) and Symmetric Index(SI) before and after training. Result: Both the group 1 and group 2 showed significant improvement after training in all variables of balance and gait. The group 3 showed significant improvement in TUG values, 6MWT values, walking speed, cadence and SI. The changes in the group 1 were significantly greater in all dependent variables of balance and gait than those of the group 2 and group 3. The changes in the group 2 were significantly greater in TUG values, BBS scores, 6MWT values, walking speed, and cadence than those of the group 3. Conclusion: The result of this study show inclined treadmill gait training with RAS is more effective to improve balance and gait in stoke patients than inclined treadmill or general treadmill gait training without RAS.