Article

The objective of the present study was to examine the attentional demands of gait
adaptations required to walk over irregular terrain in community-dwelling people
with chronic stroke. Eight community ambulators (>6 months post-stroke, aged 57
+/- 15 years) and eight age-matched healthy controls participated in the study.
As the primary motor task, participants walked on a treadmill while they quickly
reacted to a sudden obstacle in front of the affected (in the stroke group) or
left (in healthy controls) leg. The secondary, cognitive task was an auditory
Stroop task. Outcomes were avoidance success rate and muscle reaction times of
the biceps and rectus femoris (motor task), and a composite score of accuracy and
verbal reaction time (cognitive task). Success rates did not differ between
single- and dual-task conditions in either group, while muscle reaction times
deteriorated equally during the dual task in both groups. However, compared with
the Stroop scores just before and after obstacle crossing, the scores while
crossing the obstacle deteriorated more in the stroke group than in the controls
(p=0.012). The higher dual-task costs on the Stroop task reflect greater
attentional demands during walking and crossing obstacles. The absence of
dual-task effects on obstacle avoidance performance suggests that the people with
stroke used a "posture-first strategy". The results imply that common daily life
tasks such as obstacle crossing while walking require disproportionate attention
even in well-recovered people with stroke.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS