BACKGROUND Spinal cord injury affects walking balance control, which necessitates methods to quantify balance ability. The purposes of this study were to 1) examine walking balance through foot placement variability post-injury; 2) assess the relationship between measures of variability and clinical balance assessments; and 3) determine if spatial parameter variability might be used as a clinic...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the hippotherapy influence on gait training in post-stroke hemiparetic individuals. METHOD The study was constituted of 20 individuals divided into two groups. Group A performed the conventional treatment while group B the conventional treatment along with hippotherapy during 16 weeks. The patients were evaluated by using the Functional Ambulation Category Scale, Fugl-Me...

BACKGROUND Ankle foot orthoses (AFO) are commonly used orthotic device in order to restore the ankle foot function and to improve the balance and gait in post-stroke hemiparetic patients. However, there remain some discussions about their effectiveness on long term hemiparetic patients who had mild to moderate spasticity. AIM To investigate the relative effect of prefabricated thermoplastic p...

PURPOSE This study investigates balance ability and the fall efficacy with regard to the experiences of stroke patients with hemiparesis. METHODS The experience of falling, the use of assistive devices, and each disease-related characteristic were assessed using face-to-face interviews and a self-reported questionnaire. The Berg Balance Scale and Fall Efficacy Scale were used to measure balan...

OBJECTIVE To build a new activity-based, "bed to community", aetiology-independent measure of balance within the neurological rehabilitation setting by merging some existing scales. METHODS Balance scales were selected using a conceptual framework and subsequently administered to a convenience sample of adult patients with balance problems due to different neurological aetiologies. Data were ...

OBJECTIVE to examine the effects of footwear on balance in a sample of older women attending a day hospital. DESIGN this was a crossover trial with a quasi-randomised allocation. SETTING assessments took place in the geriatric day hospital. SUBJECTS a cohort of 100 older women aged 60 years and over attending a day hospital. METHODS demographic data and a brief falls history were record...

BACKGROUND Muscle spindles endings are extremely sensitive to externally applied vibrations, and under such circumstances they convey proprioceptive inflows to the central nervous system that modulate the spinal reflexes excitability or the muscle responses elicited by postural perturbations. The aim of this pilot study is to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a balance training program ...