Effects Of Bio-resonance Stimulation On Walking Ability Improvement In Patients With Stroke

Objective Bio-resonance can promote the motor control of the lower extremity in stroke patients. By assessing the performance of the gait and walking ability before and immediately after the vibration stimulation, this clinical trial was aimed to determine the effects of the lower limbs regional vibration stimulation(RVS) on the walking ability improvement in stroke patients.Subjects and MethodsPart1Twenty-six patients with post-stroke hemiplegia (Male17;Female9;Age66.54±6.54year) were enrolled in this study. All of them received the lower limbs RVS (16Hz,4mm) on the bilateral foot soles for10min in sitting position. The modified Ashworth scale (MAS) score for the triceps surae muscle tonus, the timed up and go test (TUGT) and10m maximum walking speed test (MWST) were performed before and immediately after the vibration.Part2Twenty-two stroke patients (Male16;Female6;Age67±6.4year) participated in the trial. They received the RVS the same as the part1(16Hz,4mm) for10min in sitting position. Their gait temporal-spatial parameters were collected with the3-dimensional gait analysis system before and immediately after the RVS respectively.ResultsPart1Comparing the assessment records before and immediately after the vibration stimulation(RVS), we found that the average of the TUGT decreased from (17.60±7.33)s to(16.15±6.70)s significantly (P=0.037), and the result of the10m MWST also showed significant improvements when increased from (1.51±0.49)m/s to(1.62±0.53)m/s (P=0.002). However, the MAS score did not have significant change (P>0.05).Part2After the RVS, as the spatial parameters, the step length of the affected side had increased from (38.84±11.92)cm to (41.06±12.20)cm and the step width had decreased (18.91±4.01)cm to (17.93±3.61)cm significantly (P=0.02; P=0.005), while the percentage of initial double support in gait cycle for one of the temporal parameter decreased from (61.24±5.96)%to (58.50±7.05)%significantly (P=0.011). There was no significant difference found in the remaining temporal-spatial parameters (P>0.05).Conclusions The lower limbs RVS on the bilateral foot soles in sitting position could improve the gait, the walking speed and stability immediately after the vibration to promote the lower limbs motor function in post-stroke hemiplegia.