View clinical trials related to Gait.
Filter by:Lower Limb Deformities (LLDF) is a rather common infirmity among children. LLDF may result from various conditions such as trauma, tumors, infection, and dysplasia, congenital and metabolic abnormalities. It is assumed that correction of deformities by surgical procedure will improve ambulation and reduce energy expenditure. This prospective study will document the process of establishing the initial localization and magnitude of deformity through physical and radiological examination, kinetic and kinematical parameters, and measuring energy expenditure. The study will also document the type of surgical intervention undertaken to correct the deformity. Following a recovery from surgery, children's ambulation will be assessed again, by physical and radiological examination, by kinetic and kinematical parameters, and by measuring energy expenditure. A third series of exams will be performed four months later. It is expected that the surgical intervention will improve ambulation and reduce energy expenditure. This study aims at establishing a model enabling to assess ambulation and energy expenditure before and after surgical intervention. The results of the study may have practical implications on the decision and type of surgical procedures.
Objective/Rationale: The investigators objective is to demonstrate that an intervention program based on motor learning principles can be applied to train subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) who suffer from freezing to walk in a way that minimizes the occurrence of freezing. Since sufficient motor learning capabilities are preserved in PD, the investigators hypothesize that an intervention program that targets the time periods just prior to an approaching freezing episode can modify the walking strategies so that the episode will now be averted. Project Description: The freezing burden will be quantified in subjects with PD before and after 6 weeks of training. Two types of interventions (20 subjects in each group) will be tested: 1) Open-loop group (OLG); 2) Closed-loop group (CLG). Each session of the OLG training includes walking courses aimed at provoking freezing episodes. The experimenter will trigger an auditory rhythmic stimulation (RAS) in walking conditions likely to invoke freezing (e.g., turning) and the subject will learn to synchronize his/her gait with the auditory cues, i.e., to keep the walking pace and coordination and, as a result, to avoid freezing. Similar principles will apply for the CLG training; however, the RAS will be elicited automatically by a device that recognizes an approaching freezing episode. Relevance to Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson's Disease: If even partially successful, the investigators will show, for the first time that freezing of gait is amenable to motor learning and that appropriate training with external cueing can alleviate these motor blockades. While future studies will be needed to further assess long-term efficacy and other important questions about clinical efficacy and the mechanisms involved, this study should go a long way towards improving the investigators understanding of freezing of gait and its amenability to appropriate therapy. Anticipated Outcome: The investigators anticipate that after intensive training, the central nervous system (CNS) of subjects with PD will be able to anticipate impending freezing episodes based on awareness of the environmental conditions (e.g., an approaching turn) and/or based on sub-conscious response to a deteriorating gait pattern. As a result, an automated motor response that paces and coordinates gait will be internally triggered by the CNS and the approaching freezing episode will be averted. The overall freezing burden will therefore decrease in trained subjects.
The purpose of this study is to examine the change in ankle plantar flexion while walking, following treatment with the Ankle Dorsiflexion Dynasplint (AFD) for children diagnosed as Toe Walkers. For twelve weeks, patients will either receive the standard treatment or the same standard treatment and the Dynaslint worn at night.
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative, progressive illness. It is a multi-system disease that influences not only the motor but also the cognitive and autonomic systems. The main cognitive impairment in individuals with PD is found in executive function (EF). EF is defined as a set of cognitive skills necessary for planning, monitoring and executing sequences of complex activities. The primary study hypothesis is that computer-based training aimed at improving executive function will have a beneficial effect on gait functions.
The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a 6-month music-based multitask exercises program (Jaques-Dalcroze eurhythmics) in improving gait and balance, and reducing fall risk in community-dwelling older adults with an increased risk of falling.
The purpose of this research study is to compare two different exercise treatments for walking problems in older adults. The investigators want to determine if participation in the exercise programs for 3 months will improve walking abilities by improving balance and strength.
Compared with cognitively normal older adults, those with mild cognitive problems (MCI) have a two-fold higher rate of falls, sustain more fractures, and have a higher rate of mortality due to falls. Why older adults with cognitive problems fall more frequently is not completely understood. What is known, however, is that attention is a necessary cognitive resource for normal walking and impairments in attention are associated with increased risk of falls in older adults. It has been suggested that cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI), medications used for treatment of dementia, may improve motor function and walking (gait performance). Since ChEI are known to improve attention, we hypothesized that ChEI will reduce falls risk in people with MCI by improving their gait velocity, improving their balance, and reducing their gait variability; a well-established risk factor for falls. In the proposed study, we will evaluate the effect of donepezil (ChEI) on gait velocity, gait variability, and the balance on 140 elderly individuals with MCI (70 intervention and 70 controls). Gait variables will be measured using an electronic walkway, and balance confidence using a validated scale (Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale; ABC) over four months. By characterizing and understanding the effects of cognitive enhancers on fall risk in older adults with cognitive impairments, we will be able to pave the way for a new approach to fall prevention in this population. We would establish that medications that augment cognitive function could be a complementary therapeutic option for reducing fall risk in people with MCI. This may lead to new approaches to prevent and treat fall risk in this population, which will lead to improve the autonomy and quality of life of seniors in early stage of dementia, and a decreased burden for the Ontario health care system.
Based on their preliminary quantitative gait findings suggesting that limited passive hip extension range is a key functionally limiting impairment affecting gait, the investigators propose a supervised, specific stretching exercise with the aim to improve both peak hip extension and overall gait performance. While one goal is to demonstrate that reduced peak passive hip extension is a key, functionally significant, but reversible, impairment another is to improve our understanding of the relationship between impairment, functional limitation and gait ability.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether there are quantifiable differences in walking stability, as measured by the acceleration of the trunk or the variation in step length, between people with unilateral below-knee amputations from vascular reasons or from trauma reasons.