Positional biofeedback to improve gait in subjects with stroke

Abstracts / Gait & Posture 30S (2009) S1–S25 S23 Positional biofeedback to improve gait in subjects with stroke A. Crippa 1 ,2a , J. Jonsdottir , R. Parelli 1 , M. Rabuffetti 3 ,A.Casiraghi 2 , D. Cattaneo 1,a1 LaRiCE, Italy 2 S.A.F.LO, Italy 3 Polo tecnologico, Italy Introduction The purpose of our study was to investigate the effectiveness ofpositional bio-feedback on reducing gait impairments in a popula-tion with hemiparesis following stroke. Positional BFB was used toimprovepatient’sabilitytoself-regulatethemovementtoaspecificjointangleorbodysegmentpositioninordertoimprovesymmetryof gait.Biofeedback is a technique in which a person is given informa-tion about physiological processes that is not normally available tothemwiththegoalofgainingconsciouscontrolofthoseresponses.Inordertomaximizetheeffectoffeedbackinlearningmotoractiv-ities,weprovideda“dynamicbiofeedback”inwhichfeedbackfromakinematicvariableisprovidedduringfunction-relatedtasktrain-ing in accordance with current theories of motor learning [1,2].In neuromotor rehabilitation, task-oriented training encourages apatienttoexploretheenvironmentandtosolvespecificmovementproblems.The purpose of this presentation is to provide preliminary evi-dences concerning a subset of variables used to characterize thegait cycle.