The effect of gait imagery and its more demanding variant on muscle activity in stroke survivors

Abstract

One of the main goals of rehabilitation for stroke survivors is functional recovery of gait. The gait imagery appears to be the suitable adjunct to comprehensive rehabilitation for stroke survivors, as it improves its subsequent performance. The aim of this study was to determine how muscle activity of selected paretic and non-paretic lower limb muscles changes in patients in the subacute phase after stroke when imagining normal gait and its more challenging variant, gait on the line. The electromyographic (EMG) activity of m. rectus femoris, m. biceps femoris, m. tibiais anterior and m. gastrocnemius medialis was recorded during three tasks of imagining both types of gait (resting task without gait imagery, gait imagery before and after its actual execution) in 40 stroke survivors. Muscle activity decreased significantly in most of the selected muscles of both lower limbs during each of the tasks of normal gait imagery and gait on the line imagery. We found lower EMG activity in paretic m. gastrocnemius medialis and non-paretic m. rectus femoris and m. biceps femoris during the tasks of imagining more challenging situation. Muscle activity of paretic and non-paretic lower limbs did not differ during imagination before and after execution of both types of gait. The results of the study show that normal gait imagery and gait on a line imagery alters muscle activity in both paretic and non-paretic lower limbs. The findings may facilitate the application of imagining these movements as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation approach in subacute stroke survivors.