Postural control during quiet standing and voluntary stepping response tasks in individuals post-stroke: a case-control study.

Background: Postural control impairments following a stroke have an impact on mobility, reduce independence, and increase the risk of falls. Assessing these impairments during tasks representative of real-life situations, such as quiet standing (QS) and voluntary stepping response (VSR), will enhance our understanding of how the postural control system is impaired in individuals post-stroke (IPS). It will also inform the development of a more targeted and effective rehabilitation to prevent falls in IPS.

Characteristics of Voluntary-induced Stepping Response in Persons with Stroke compared with those of healthy Young and Older Adults.

Background: Impairment of protective steps to recover balance from external perturbation is evident after stroke. Voluntary-induced stepping response (VSR) can be used to practice protective steps by instructing an individual to voluntarily lean their whole body forward until they perceive a loss of balance and automatically induce a step. However, to improve protective stepping performance, detailed characteristics of VSR in healthy persons are required.

Immediate effect of voluntary-induced stepping response training on protective stepping in persons with chronic stroke: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: To compare the immediate effects of voluntary-induced stepping response training (VSR) and DynSTABLE perturbation training (DST) on protective stepping in patients with stroke.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial (registration number: TCTR20170827001) was conducted in 34 patients with chronic stroke who were randomly allocated to the VSR ( = 17) or DST ( = 17) group. The VSR group was instructed to lean forward to induce protective stepping, while the DST group experienced support surface translation.