Cortical Priming to Optimize Gait Rehabilitation Post Stroke

University of Illinois

Status: Completed

Conditions: Stroke

Treatments: Other: AMT; Other: tDCS; Behavioral: Treadmill training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03492229

R01HD075777 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

2011-0676

Details and patient eligibility

About

Over four million stroke survivors currently living in the United States are unable to walk independently in the community. To increase the effectiveness of gait rehabilitation, it is critical to develop therapies that are based on an understanding of brain adaptations that occur after stroke. This project will be the first step towards the development of a novel therapeutic approach using brain stimulation to increase walking capacity in stroke survivors and understand the neural mechanisms that are associated with impairment and functional recovery.

Enrollment: 81 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 40 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 50 - 80 years
• First ever monohemispheric stroke > 6 months since onset
• Residual hemiparetic gait deficits
• Able to walk without an ankle orthotic for 5 minutes at self-paced speed. Handheld assistive device is acceptable.

Exclusion criteria

• Severe osteoporosis
• Contracture-limiting range of motion of lower limb
• Uncontrolled anti-spasticity medications during the study period
• Cardiorespiratory or metabolic diseases (e.g. cardiac arrhythmia, uncontrolled hypertension or diabetes, chronic emphysema)
• Unhealed decubiti, persistent infection
• Significant cognitive or communication impairment (MMSE <21), which could impede the understanding of the purpose of procedures of the study or prevent the patient from performing the tracking task.
• Lesions pertaining to the brainstem and cerebellum

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

---

81 participants in 4 patient groups

tDCS+AMT

Experimental group

Description:

TDCS in combination with movement training before treadmill training

Treatment:

Other: tDCS

Behavioral: Treadmill training

Other: AMT

tDCS

Active Comparator group

Description:

tDCS only before treadmill training

Treatment:

Other: tDCS

Behavioral: Treadmill training

AMT

Active Comparator group

Description:

Movement training only before treadmill training

Treatment:

Behavioral: Treadmill training

Other: AMT

Control

Sham Comparator group

Description:

No priming before treadmill training

Treatment:

Behavioral: Treadmill training