For patients who have experienced a stroke, learning to walk again can be challenging, but even with rehabilitation, walking correctly is even more difficult. Often times these patients never regain the ability to walk the way they did prior to their stroke. But physical therapists at the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR) are conducting a study to develop a technique that will help these patients walk correctly again with the ultimate goal of changing clinical practice in physical therapy. Currently, eight patients have participated in the study and all have had successful outcomes.

“We are eight for eight. All of them can walk with a basically normal gait pattern and five of the eight are independent without the use of even a cane,” says Karen McCain, physical therapist at BIR and lead investigator of the study. “In my 14 years as a physical therapist I have not treated eight stroke patients total that walk this well. We are definitely on to something.”

The approach, known as locomotor treadmill training with partial body weight support, uses a treadmill outfitted with a harness and a team of physical therapists that assist and closely supervise the patient. The patient is secured to the harness to support a portion of their body weight while walking on the treadmill. In this reduced weight environment, the patient can relearn how to walk in a safe and controlled manner. Once the patient becomes stronger, more body weight is added until they can comfortably walk on their own without the need for assistance.

Traditionally, most patients who have experienced a stroke are rehabilitated using walkers or other assistive devices and frequently develop an abnormal method of walking, which is marked by asymmetry. This abnormal pattern can be difficult and sometimes impossible to correct. McCain says that as a result, most patients develop a very distinct way of walking that is obvious to even the casual observer.

“Not only does walking incorrectly create a stigma for these patients, but it also makes them more susceptible to injury and directly affects their quality of life,” says McCain. “The purpose of this study is to prove that this method is a safer and better way to rehabilitate these patients.”

Barbara Moore, 72, a former marathon runner and participant in the study, experienced a stroke in March 2006, causing her to lose movement in the left side of her body. After spending less than two weeks on the treadmill with partial body weight support, Moore was walking again with a cane and a lower leg brace and began walking independently soon after.

“I don’t have any limitations at all and, other than my age, I don’t see any reason why I can’t start running again,” says Moore. “I can walk like I did before my stroke.”

The body weight treadmill support system study is the first research study within Baylor Health Care System to be conducted by physical therapists and has been enrolling patients since November 2005.

Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation is a not-for-profit, 116-bed hospital that offers intense, specialized rehabilitation services for traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, strokes, and other orthopaedic and neurological disorders. Physicians specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, known as physiatrists, lead interdisciplinary clinical teams, which work with patients to design and implement a treatment program to achieve the patient’s goals. In 2005, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation was named among the top rehabilitation hospitals in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” guide, an honor it has received for nine years.

Baylor Health Care System