Variation of time-distance parameters of the stride as related to clinical gait improvement in hemiplegics.

Gait improvement was evaluated in two different ways for 20 hemiplegics during an average follow-up period of 8 weeks in early rehabilitation. One way was by weekly measuring time-distance parameters of the stride on an electrical contact system walkway. The second was a clinical evaluation of gait improvement. The parameters studied were contact time, double contact time, stride length, velocity, time symmetry and distance symmetry. The variation of each of these parameters during the follow-up period was correlated with the variation in gait evaluated clinically. This correlation showed that both evaluations agreed, supporting the usage of time-distance parameters as a tool for an objective follow-up of walking ability of hemiplegics during rehabilitation.