Gait improvement in patients with cerebral palsy by visual and auditory feedback

Abstract

Objectives: To study the effects of gait training with visual and auditory feedback cues on the walking abilities of patients with gait disorders due to cerebral palsy.

Materials and methods: Visual and auditory feedback cues were generated by a wearable device, driven by inertial sensors. Ten randomly selected patients with gait disorders due to cerebral palsy and seven age-matched healthy individuals trained with visual feedback cues, while ten patients and eight age-matched healthy individuals trained with auditory feedback cues. Baseline performance (walking speed and stride length along a 10-m straight track) was measured before device use. Following 20-min training with the device and a 20-min break, performance without the device was measured again and compared with the baseline performance.

Results: For the patients who trained with visual feedback, the average improvement was 21.70% ± 36.06% in the walking speed and 8.72% ± 9.47% in the stride length. For the patients who trained with auditory feedback, the average improvement was 25.43% ± 28.65% in the walking speed and 13.58% ± 13.10% in the stride length. For the healthy individuals who trained with visual feedback, the average improvement was -2.41% ± 9.54% in the walking speed and -2.84% ± 10.11% in the stride length. For the healthy individuals who trained with auditory feedback, the average improvement was 0.01% ± 7.73% in the walking speed and -2.03% ± 6.15% in the stride length.

Conclusions: Training with visual and auditory feedback cues can improve gait parameters in patients with gait disorders due to cerebral palsy. This was contrasted by no improvement in age-matched healthy individuals.