earticle

영어

Purpose: The study investigated the effect on chronic stroke patients’ balance of a weight shift to the affected side using an insole on the less affected side during treadmill walking training. Methods: The subjects were 7 patients who had been diagnosed with stroke 6–24 months prior to the study. In each case, an insole was applied on the patient’s less affected side during treadmill walking training. Each training session lasted 30 minutes and was undertaken 5 times per week for 4 weeks. Biorescue equipment that measures shifts in center of pressure was used to assess balance ability as measured by the Korea-Berg balance scale (K-BBS) before and after each training intervention. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to evaluate within-group effects. Results: The results revealed statistically significant before and after differences in area, pressure, length, and mean velocity of the balance test and on K-BBS (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In chronic stroke patients, using an insole to adjust the height of the shoe on the less affected side is an effective means of increasing weight-shifting on the paralyzed side during treadmill gait training.