Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability with ~80% of post-stroke survivors suffering from gait-related deficits. Conventional gait rehabilitation settings are labor-intensive and need rigorous involvement of clinicians (who use their expertise to decide the dosage of exercise intensity based on patient’s capability). This demands a technology-assisted individualized exercise platform that can offer varying dosage of exercise intensity based on one’s capability. Here, we have used an individualized physiology-sensitive treadmill-assisted gait exercise platform. We wanted to investigate the implications of this platform on one’s lower limb muscle strength and muscle fatigue by analyzing surface Electromyogram (sEMG)-related indices and standard gait-related clinical measures. Methods: We designed a feasibility study involving post-stroke patients (n=9; 44.4(±15)years; post-stroke period=3.1(±3)years) and gave them multiple exposures to this exercise platform. We investigated the Gastrocnemius Lateralis and Tibialis Anterior muscle activation prior to and post multiple exposures to our exercise platform while they walked overground. The feasibility study ended with collecting feedback on the patients’ perception on the implications of having gait exercise using such a platform on their ambulation capability. Results: The results showed that repeated exposures to this gait exercise platform can contribute towards gait rehabilitation of post-stroke patients with rehabilitation outcomes measured in terms of group average improvement of (i)~14% in muscle strength and (ii)marginal (~6%) in functional mobility (as in our case). Conclusion: Such a physiology-sensitive treadmill-assisted gait exercise platform can hold promise towards contributing to post-stroke gait rehabilitation in low-resource settings with the rehabilitation outcomes being measured in terms of sEMG-based observations.

中文翻译：

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生理敏感步态运动对中风后偏瘫患者下肢肌电活动的影响：低资源环境下的可行性研究

背景：中风是导致残疾的主要原因之一，约 80% 的中风后幸存者患有步态相关缺陷。传统的步态康复设置是劳动密集型的，需要临床医生的严格参与（他们利用他们的专业知识根据患者的能力决定运动强度的剂量）。这就需要一个技术辅助的个性化运动平台，可以根据个人能力提供不同剂量的运动强度。在这里，我们使用了个性化的生理敏感跑步机辅助步态锻炼平台。我们想通过分析表面肌电图 (sEMG) 相关指标和标准步态相关临床指标来研究该平台对下肢肌肉力量和肌肉疲劳的影响。方法：我们设计了一项涉及中风后患者（n=9；44.4（±15）年；中风后期=3.1（±3）年）的可行性研究，并让他们多次接触这个锻炼平台。我们调查了腓肠外侧肌和胫前肌在我们的运动平台上行走之前和之后的多次暴露，同时他们在地上行走。可行性研究最后收集了患者对使用此类平台进行步态锻炼对其行走能力影响的看法的反馈。结果：结果表明，反复接触该步态锻炼平台可以促进中风后患者的步态康复，康复结果以（i）~14% 的肌肉力量和（ii）边际（~ 6%）在功能移动性方面（如我们的情况）。