Control Strategies of the Locomotor System During Obstacle-Crossing in Stroke Patients

Tripping over obstacles is one of the common movements in daily life and is the most frequently mentioned cause of falls in the elderly. Indeed, crossing obstacles is a more complex motor skill than walking, and ensuring sufficient clearance of an obstacle during locomotion requires accurate movement and appropriate modifications of the swing limb. However, little is known about the obstacle crossing deficits that following stroke, especially in good outcome and function independently strokes. It is still a mystery about motor control and motor plastic of central nerve system. The purpose of the study was to observe and quantify certain characteristics of the performance of subjects following stroke with good outcome to understand the damage of central nerve system how to affect motor control. The present study investigated selected spatial-temporal characteristics, kinematic variables and kinetic variables of the gait pattern to define further the problems in obstacle crossing following strokes. To quantify the deficits, we compared results from a group of subjects with stroke with a group of healthy subjects matched for age, gender, and height.