Overground walking with a constraint force on the nonparetic leg during swing improves weight shift toward the paretic side in people after stroke

Abstract

Application of constraint force to the nonparetic leg during overground walking induced improved lateral weight shifts toward the paretic leg and enhanced muscle activity of the paretic leg during walking. In addition, one session of overground walking with constraint force might induce an increase in propulsive force of the paretic leg and an increase in self-selected overground walking speed, which might be partially due to the improvement in motor control of the paretic leg.