Efficacy of Balance and Gait Re-Education under Single and Dual Task Conditions in Post Stroke Hemiparetic Patients

The primary concern of all the patients suffered from post- stroke hemiparesis is to regain the ability to balance and walk independently. Gait correction and re-education, therefore, is an important physical therapy intervention for patients following stroke. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of dual task balance and gait training compared to single task balance and gait training in post stroke hemiparetic patients. 45 post stroke hemiparetic patients aged 40- 70 years, both males and females and within one year of stroke, were included in the study. The patients were conveniently divided into 3 groups, namely, group A, B and C. The patients were assessed for quantitative gait parameters such as step length, cadence, Comfortable Walking Speed (CWS), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS).Group A received balance and gait training under single task condition; whereas the patients in Group B were given balance and gait training under dual task conditions. All the patients received a total intervention of 6 weeks. After statistical analysis, a statistical significant difference was observed in non-paretic step length, stride length, cadence, CWS and BBS score along (p< 0.05) in the groups A and B. The present study shows that both single task as well as dual task training provides better gait rehabilitation but the results are less evident than dual task training in terms of quantitative gait analysis.