Comparison of high-intensive and low-intensive electromechanical-assisted gait training in stroke patients

Abstract Background: This study was conducted to assess the effect of electromechanical-assisted gait training intensity on walking ability in stroke patients.Methods: The data of two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) under the same study design of evaluation and intervention except intervention time per session were recruited. After matching the inclusion criteria of two RCTs, the experimental groups of each RCT were defined as low-intensive (LI) and high-intensive (HI) group according to the intervention time per session. Primary outcome was the difference of the change in Functional Ambulatory Categories (FAC) between LI and HI gait training. Secondary outcomes were the difference of changes in mobility, walking speed, walking capacity, leg-muscle strength, daily activity, and balance.Results: The FAC improved after gait training in both groups, but, the changes of FAC were not different between LI and HI groups. The mobility function in LI group improved significantly more than that in HI group. The leg-muscle strength and balance showed the greater improvement in LI group than those in HI group, but did not show statistical significance.Conclusions: The improvement of walking ability after LI or HI gait training was not different if providing the same total gait training time. By providing the electromechanical gait training intensively, we could shorten the gait training period to improve walking ability.Trial registrationName of the registry: Clinical Research Information Service.Trial registration number: No. KCT0002195(RCT1), No. KCT0002552(RCT2).Date of registration: 10/04/2016(RCT1), 10/05/2017(RCT2).URL of the trial registry record: https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/search