Improvement of gait ability with a short-term intensive gait rehabilitation program using body weight support treadmill training in community dwelling chronic poststroke survivors

[Purpose] Most previous studies have shown that body weight support treadmill training (BWSTT) can improve gait speed poststroke patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of a short-term intensive program using BWSTT among community dwelling poststroke survivors. [Subjects] Eighteen subjects participated in this study. The treatment group was composed of 10 subjects (2 women; 8 men; mean age, 59.1 +/- 12.5 years; time since stroke onset, 35.3 +/- 33.2 months), whereas the control group was made up of 8 subjects (3 women; 5 men; mean age, 59.8 +/- 6.3 years; time since stroke onset, 39.3 +/- 27.3 months). [Methods] The treatment group received BWSTT 3 times a week for 4 weeks (a total of 12 times), with each session lasting 20 minutes. The main outcome measures were maximum gait speed on a flat floor, cadence, and step length. [Results] No differences were observed in the baseline clinical data between the 2 groups. The gait speed in the treatment group was significantly improved compared with that in the control by 2-way ANOVA, while the other parameters showed no significant interaction. [Conclusion] These results suggested that short-term intensive gait rehabilitation using BWSTT was useful for improving gait ability among community dwelling poststroke subjects.