Evaluation of gait analysis as a Prognostic Tool in post-stroke hemiparesis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22815110Keywords:
gait analysis, post-stroke hemiparesis, prognosis, gait speed, rehabilitationAbstract
Background: Gait disturbance is one of the most disabling and persistent consequences of stroke, and clinicians have long sought objective measures that predict which patients will regain independent, community-level walking.
Objective: This review synthesizes evidence on clinical and instrumented gait analysis as a prognostic tool for functional walking recovery in post-stroke hemiparesis, spanning spatiotemporal, kinetic, kinematic, and electromyographic measures.
Methods: We reviewed longitudinal cohort studies, validation studies of standardized gait scales, and rehabilitation trials that report gait-derived measures alongside walking outcomes such as community ambulation, discharge disposition, and long-term functional independence.
Findings: Early comfortable gait speed and its trajectory over the first weeks after stroke consistently predict later ambulatory status, while step-length and propulsion asymmetry, paretic limb kinetic contribution, and abnormal lower-limb muscle activation patterns add prognostic information beyond speed alone; standardized tools such as the Functional Ambulation Category and instrumented gait laboratories or wearable sensors improve the precision and reproducibility of these predictions.
Conclusions: Gait analysis, particularly when serial spatiotemporal and kinetic measures are combined with validated clinical scales, offers clinically actionable prognostic information that can guide the intensity and focus of rehabilitation, although further work is needed to standardize instrumented protocols for routine prognostic use.
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