Supported community exercise in people with long-term neurological conditions: a phase II randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Adults with long-term neurological conditions have low levels of participation in physical activities and report many barriers to participation in exercise. This study examines the feasibility and safety of supporting community exercise for people with long-term neurological conditions using a physical activity support system.

Design: A phase II randomized controlled trial using computer-generated block randomization, allocation concealment and single blind outcome assessment.

Fast walking under cognitive-motor interference conditions in chronic stroke.

Gait in stroke patients is often characterised by slower speeds, which may be exacerbated by situations that combine gait with a cognitive task, leading to difficulties with everyday activities. Interaction between cognitive task performance and gait speed may differ according to walking intensity. This study examines the effects of two cognitive tasks on gait at preferred walking pace, and at a faster pace, using dual-task methodology.

Pedometer step counts in individuals with neurological conditions.

Objective: To examine the accuracy of measuring step counts using a pedometer in participants with neurological conditions and healthy volunteers in relation to a manual step count tally.

Setting: Oxford Centre for Enablement, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust, Oxford, UK.

Subjects: Healthy adults (n = 13, age: mean 29, SD = 12) and adults with neurological conditions (n=20 stroke, n=16 multiple sclerosis, n=5 muscular dystrophy, n=1 spinal cord injury, n=1 traumatic brain injury; age: mean 54, SD=13).

Anomalous centre of mass energy fluctuations during treadmill walking in healthy individuals.

Motorised treadmills are used to research and rehabilitate gait despite conflicting evidence that treadmill ambulation is equivalent to ground walking. It has been suggested that no mechanical differences should exist between these environments but there is little evidence to support this. During ground walking, the whole body centre of mass (COM) acts like an inverted pendulum recovering energy, thereby reducing the effort of locomotion.

Oxygen cost during treadmill walking with hip and knee immobilised.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of immobilising the knee and hip on the oxygen cost (ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) to velocity relationship during treadmill walking. The study was a prospective experimental conducted in a Rehabilitation centre. Ten healthy individuals, five men and five women, with no gait abnormality participated.