The Next Step in Understanding Impaired Reactive Balance Control in People With Stroke: The Role of Defective Early Automatic Postural Responses.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objective

Postural muscle responses are often impaired after stroke. We aimed to identify the contribution of deficits in very early postural responses to poorer reactive balance capacity, with a particular focus on reactive stepping as a key strategy for avoiding falls.

Methods

A total of 34 chronic stroke survivors and 17 controls were subjected to translational balance perturbations in 4 directions. We identified the highest perturbation intensity that could be recovered without stepping (single stepping threshold [SST]) and with maximally 1 step (multiple stepping threshold [MST]). We determined onset latencies and response amplitudes of 7 leg muscles bilaterally and identified associations with balance capacity.

Results

People with stroke had a low

SUBMITTER: de Kam D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5714159 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature