الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Background: Stroke is the leading cause of acquired physical disability in adults and the second leading cause of mortality. Stroke increases with age, doubling after the age of 55 years. Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of eye movement training programs on improving gait function in hemiparetic patients post-stroke. Design: Sixty elderly patients of both sex with stroke at least six months prior were randomly assigned into two equal groups: the study and the control group. All patients in both groups received a specific gait training program three days/week for eight weeks, the study group received in the same session training for eye muscles. The Microsoft Kinect V2 was used to measure changes in gait characteristics (speed, cadence, paretic step length, non-paretic step length, and step width). A paired and unpaired t-test was done to evaluate all measured parameters within each group pre and post-treatment and to evaluate the measured parameters among the groups. The level of significance was set at P0.05. Results: The results showed an improvement in both groups, and the improvement was in favor of the study group. The study group demonstrated a significant improvement in gait speed (32.19%) P0.05, cadence was (18.01%) P0.05, paretic step length was (10.39%) P0.05 and non-paretic step length was (10.19%) P0.05 the step width showed no significant difference P0.05. The significant improvement in the control group was less than the study group it was (18.86%) P0.05 for speed, (14.4%) for cadence P0.05, (8.2%) for paretic step length P0.05, non-paretic step length and step width showing non-significant improvement P0.05. Conclusion: Eye movement exercise training significantly improved gait function in elderly patients post-stroke. Eye movement training improved patients’ postural control, balance, and weight distribution, thus allowing the patients to walk more securely and navigate easily during walking. Key words: hemiparesis, eye movement, gait, Microsoft Kinect. |