Effects of vibration on the bearing asymmetry walking in chronic stroke patients

IntroductionThe asymmetry of support when walking, common after a stroke, is a known risk factor for falls. The objective of this study is to assess effects of muscle vibrations on various sites on correcting this asymmetry.MethodsTwenty-one patients (61±13 years) with hemiplegia (10 right, 11 left) chronic vascular (mean time post stroke 48±44months) received vibratory stimulation transcutaneous 70Hz at the posterior cervical lesion contralateral muscles (NMV), the gluteus medius lesion side (GMV) and the biceps contralateral lesion (sham). An analysis of the percentage of one-foot support measured by GAITRite was performed before, during, and 2 and 10minutes after each stimulation.ResultsBefore stimulation, supporting asymmetry is noted with a percentage of the push side hemiplegic averaged 31.5% (±6.0%, min=20%, max=37%). Under GMV we find that this increases to 35.0% (±5.9%, min=28.8%, max=41.2%) against 31.1% (±7.5%, min=20%, max=42%) in NMV and 32.0% (±6.9%, min=28.6%, max=39.4%) in the sham. 2minutes, the effect persists for GMV stimulation with 35.5% (±9.0%, min=35%, max=42.4%) 4% improvement then disappears in 10minutes. The results are more significant in left hemiplegia with 7% improvement for GMV (P