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Augmenting propulsion demands during split-belt walking increases locomotor adaptation in the asymmetric motor system

View ORCID ProfileCarly J. Sombric, View ORCID ProfileGelsy Torres-Oviedo
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/734749
Carly J. Sombric
1Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
1Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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  • For correspondence: gelsyto@pitt.edu
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Abstract

Background We previously found that increasing propulsion demands during split-belt walking (i.e., legs moving at different speeds) facilitates locomotor adaptation. There is a clinical interest to determine if this is also the case in stroke survivors.

Objective We investigated the effect of propulsion forces on locomotor adaptation during and after split-belt walking in the asymmetric motor system post-stroke.

Methods To test this, 12 chronic stroke subjects experienced a split-belt protocol in a flat and incline session so as to contrast the effects of two different propulsion demands. Step length asymmetry and propulsion forces were used to compare the motor behavior between the two sessions because these are clinically relevant measures that are altered by split-belt walking.

Results The incline session resulted in more adaptation (i.e., less limping) during late split-belt walking and larger after-effects following split-belt walking. In both testing sessions, stroke subjects adapted to regain speed and slope-specific leg orientations similarly to younger adults. These leg orientations achieved during split-belt walking were predictive of the post-adaptation behavior.

Conclusion These results indicated that the asymmetric motor system post-stroke can adapt to meet leg-specific kinetic demands. This promising finding suggests that augmenting propulsion demands during split-belt walking could favor symmetric walking in stroke survivors, perhaps making split-belt interventions a more effective gait rehabilitation strategy.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted August 13, 2019.
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Augmenting propulsion demands during split-belt walking increases locomotor adaptation in the asymmetric motor system
Carly J. Sombric, Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
bioRxiv 734749; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/734749
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Augmenting propulsion demands during split-belt walking increases locomotor adaptation in the asymmetric motor system
Carly J. Sombric, Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
bioRxiv 734749; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/734749

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