AQUATIC GAIT TRAINING: USING
UNDERWATER TREADMILL FOR INDIVIDUAL? WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
Presenter(s)
Taeyou Jung
The
18111
Day Phone: 818-677-2182
Email: taeyou.jung@csun.edu
Mobility
training often becomes a priority in the long-term rehabilitation among
individuals with physical disabilities. Gait training is closely related to
enhancing their independence and functionality in activities of daily living.
Treadmill-based gait training has been found to be effective in reeducating
walking in people with physical disabilities, such as stroke, spinal cord
injury and traumatic brain injury (Trimble, Kukulka, & Behrman, 1998; Kosak
& Reding, 2000). In combination with partial weight bearing system, the treadmill
has shown to be more effective than conventional overground gait training
(Hesse, Konrad, & Uhlenbrock, 1999; Youdas, Kotajarvi, Padgett, &
Kaufman, 2005; Wilson & Swaboda, 2002). Less weight bearing allows more
physiological movement strategies by minimizing weight bearing demands,
providing postural support and promoting coordination of the lower extremities.
Using
underwater treadmill can help many people with physical disabilities practice
walking independently in water. The partial weight bearing, due to buoyancy,
can be achieved by performing gait training in water (Templeton, Booth, &
O’Kelly, 1996; Johnson, 1988; Dumas & Francesconi, 2001). In addition,
aquatic gait training has many other physiological and psychological benefits,
including assisted balance, decreased spastic response, reduced fear of
falling, and sense of independence. However, depending on the depth of water,
underwater walking can become more challenging as it imposes more demands on
balance and coordination systems to cope with resistance from water viscosity
and turbulence from body movement through the water (Dumas et al., 2001). Using
aquatic treadmill can eliminate some of the physiological limitations of pool
walking, as well as space limitation. There have been many studies that
evaluated the benefits of aquatic exercises in various orthopedic and neuromuscular
disorders (Driver, O’Connor, Lox, & Rees, 2004; Templeton et al., 1996;
Dumas et al., 2001). But, few have analyzed movement patterns of underwater
walking or aquatic treadmill walking.
The
purpose of this presentation is to introduce aquatic treadmill-based gait
training and
provide better understanding of movement patterns during underwater treadmill
walking.
A biomechanical research project will be presented to provide scientific
understanding of
Aquatic
treadmill walking. In the study, motion analysis system was used to investigate
how individuals with and without physical disabilities walk on underwater
treadmill, as compared to overground treadmill. Total 10 people with stroke and
10 people without stroke participated in the study. All participants were asked
to walk at their self-selected comfortable speed on overground treadmill. The
same speed was applied to underwater treadmill walking when they walked on
aquatic treadmill, in order to compare gait parameters between the two walking
modes. Gait kinematics and spatiotemporal gait variables were compared. The
study findings can be utilized to provide effective gait training with more
scientific evidences in clinical rehabilitation.
References
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