Premium
The energy cost of level walking before and after hydro‐kinesi therapy in patients with spastic paresis
Author(s) -
Zamparo P.,
Pagliaro P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0838.1998.tb00196.x
Subject(s) - medicine , paresis , spasticity , preferred walking speed , hemiparesis , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , spastic , energy cost , cerebral palsy , surgery , lesion , architectural engineering , engineering
In this study the energy cost of level walking was measured in 23 patients with stationary spastic paresis before and after a two‐week treatment (45 min daily) of hydro‐kinesi therapy, the latter consisting of passive and active movements in warm (32°C) sea water, free swimming and water immersion walking. Among the subjects (80.2±13.2 kg body mass; 56.0±14.6 years of age; 10.7±6.6 years of duration of spasticity), 12 were affected by hemiparesis, 4 by multiple sclerosis and 7 by spinal cord injury. The energy cost of level walking (C w ) was measured before and after therapy from the ratio of the overall steady‐state oxygen consumption to the effective speed of progression. The differences in C w due to the treatment, at matched speeds, were found to be negligible at speeds higher than 0.75 m · s −1 (less than 5%) but to increase, with decreasing speed, up to about 17% at 0.1 m · s −1 . The treatment was therefore effective in improving the gait characteristics of the subjects, through a decrease of their C w , mainly at low speeds of progression.