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CompletedNCT05097391Updated Mar 22, 2023

Effectiveness of Paretic Lower Limb Loading During Over-ground Training Among Stroke Survivors

An interventional study of Warm-up (5 minutes) and Conventional physiotherapy exercise (15 minutes) in Stroke and Hemiparesis;Poststroke/CVA, sponsored by Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. Completed at 1 site in Nigeria. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 70 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-03-22.

Sponsored by Bayero University Kano, Nigeria · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
48
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
20 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Post-stroke gait deviations contribute to significant functional disability, impaired walking ability and poor quality of life. Prior studies suggest that gait training with paretic lower limb loading may improve gait parameters and walking ability in post-stroke. However, most gait training methods used in these studies are not readily available, and studies using cheaper methods are limited.

Read the detailed description

Stroke is the second leading cause of death and a major public health problem in both developed and developing countries. It is one of the most common causes of long-term disabilities among adults.

Stroke survivors exhibit varying neurological deficits and impairments including sensory, cognitive, perceptual, emotional, speech and motor such as gait impairments. The most important motor deficit after a stroke is the paresis of the affected side, which reduces the capacity of the paretic lower limb to maintain normal functions such as balance, initiation, and control of movements, and this negatively affects their gait.

Gait is altered post-stroke due to basic motor impairments such as altered muscle tone, lack of selective motor control, abnormal reflexes, poor balance, and muscle weakness. Gait impairment is one of the hallmarks of stroke, and many survivors are reported to have slow motor recovery in the affected lower extremity years after the stroke, which impairs their gait quality and contributes to persistent gait asymmetry. Gait asymmetry implies a significant imbalance of functional activities between two sides of the body or lower limb.

Gait symmetry is a valuable feature of gait quality, and its abnormality negatively affects gait parameters. Post-stroke, 44%-62% of the survivors showed asymmetry in the spatial gait parameters, while 48%-82% developed asymmetry in the temporal gait parameters.

After a stroke, the paretic limb exhibits a prolonged period of swing and a reduced period of stance; as a result, decreased swing time and increased stance time are seen in the non-paretic limb. These changes are believed to result from decreased walking speed as well as disturbances in other gait parameters between the paretic and non-paretic limbs, which may limit gains from rehabilitation. Despite rehabilitation efforts, self-loading and self-initiation of gait are typically ineffective in stroke patients. Stroke rehabilitation now focuses on improving load transfer onto the paretic limb to enhance proprioception and gait symmetry by providing an external source of limb loading to augment patient effort. Many survivors usually do not have significant improvement in gait function. This is often due to inefficient weight application (limb loading) on the affected side, causing non-linear limb load transfer.

Though there have been numerous interventions to manage gait in stroke survivors, using weight during over-ground walk training on stroke survivors has not been thoroughly evaluated. However, a cross-sectional study has found that weight application at the knee and ankle were both found to influence the spatiotemporal gait parameters and gait symmetry, with ankle loading having more influence on more parameters. This study is hoped to serve as a follow-up RCT to the cross-sectional study by Bala (2019).

02

Conditions studied

  • Stroke
  • Hemiparesis;Poststroke/CVA

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Keywords

  • Lower limb loading
  • Over-ground training
  • Spatiotemporal gait parameters
  • Gait symmetry parameters
  • Motor function
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
03

In context

Stroke

8,255 studies on the registry are indexed under Stroke; 2,056 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 48 is close to the median of 49 across 6,024 interventional studies indexed under Stroke.

Browse Stroke studies →

Lead sponsor

Bayero University Kano, Nigeria is the lead sponsor of 8 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Unilateral ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke occurring at least 3 months before enrolment
  2. Male or female between the age of 20 and 70 years
  3. Having a Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) scores of 1, 2, or 3, and also able to walk at least 10 meters independently without an assistive device
  4. Ability to follow verbal instructions.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Cognitive impairments
  2. Visual impairments
  3. Musculoskeletal disorders that may affect gait such as arthritis
  4. Other neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis
  5. Cardio-respiratory conditions that may limit participation such as atelectasis
  6. Concurrent participation in other interventional clinical trials.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
48 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experimental group

    i - Warm-up (5 minutes) ii- Conventional physiotherapy exercise (15 minutes) iii - Over-ground training with lower limb loading (15-25 minutes)

    Behavioral: Warm-up (5 minutes) · Behavioral: Conventional physiotherapy exercise (15 minutes) · Behavioral: Over-ground training with lower limb loading (15-25 minutes)

  • Active comparator
    Control group

    i - Warm-up (5 minutes) ii- Conventional physiotherapy exercise (15 minutes) iii - Over-ground training WITHOUT lower limb loading (15-25 minutes)

    Behavioral: Warm-up (5 minutes) · Behavioral: Conventional physiotherapy exercise (15 minutes)

Interventions

  • BehavioralWarm-up (5 minutes)

    Participants will benefit from passive stretches of hamstrings, calf muscles including a range of motion (ROM) exercise to the lower limbs as mat exercises.

  • BehavioralConventional physiotherapy exercise (15 minutes)

    The conventional treatments will be active-assisted and free active exercises to the lower limbs on the mat for five (5) minutes. This will be followed by strength training such as sit-to-stand exercises for five (5) minutes and squatting exercises for five (5) minutes prior to the over-ground training.

  • BehavioralOver-ground training with lower limb loading (15-25 minutes)

    Participants will perform the over-ground training exercise with an external 1.5kg load on the paretic lower limb placed 2cm above the ankle joint. Before commencing the over-ground training, all the participants will observe a pre-exercise rest period of about two (2) minutes during which their heart rate and blood pressure measurements will be recorded. The over-ground training will involve the patients walking within a demarcated path. Each participant will be instructed to stand and walk 15meters to and fro for five (5) minutes after which they will be asked to stop and rest for two (2) minutes. The over ground training exercise will be repeated 3 times in the first 2 weeks of the training (15 minutes); 4 times in weeks 3-4 of the training (20 minutes); and 5 times in weeks 5-8 of the training (25 minutes).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Spatial gait parameters and symmetry

    Each participant will perform three trials of walking and the spatial gait parameters will be recorded in each trial; the average will be computed. The measurements will be carried out in centimeters (cm) using measuring tape each for the paretic lower limb loading and paretic lower limb non-loading during the over-ground training. The parameters to be measured are: Step length, stride length, foot angle, and stride width.

    Time frame: Change from baseline spatial gait parameters at 4 weeks; Change from baseline spatial gait parameters at 8 weeks

  2. Temporal gait parameters and symmetry

    Each participant will perform three trials of walking and the temporal gait parameters will be recorded in each trial; the average will be computed. The measurements will be carried out in seconds (sec) using a stop watch each for the paretic lower limb loading and paretic lower limb non-loading during the over-ground training. The parameters to be measured are: Step time, stride time, single limb support time, stance time, swing time, cadence, and gait speed.

    Time frame: Change from baseline temporal gait parameters at 4 weeks; Change from baseline temporal gait parameters at 8 weeks

  3. The Lower limb motor functions

    The Motricity Index will be used to measure the lower limb functions of the participants. It is a reliable instrument for measuring the strength of the involved lower extremity when assessment following chronic stroke. Participant position: The test is administered in a sitting position. Patient will be asked to sit on a chair or on the edge of the bed. In the lower limb, the three movements to be tested are: hip flexion, knee extension, and dorsiflexion. The assessment will be carried out just before the over-ground training. All the data will be recorded. Thereafter, the total score of each participant will then be computed and documented. Scorings: 0 (No movement); 9 (Palpable contraction in muscle, but no movement); 14 (Visible movement, but not full range and not against gravity); 19 (Full range movement against gravity, but not resistance); 25 (Full movement against gravity, but weaker than the other side); 33 (Normal power).

    Time frame: Change from baseline lower limb motor function at 4 weeks; Change from baseline lower limb motor function at 8 weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital
    Kano, 700282, Nigeria
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Aug 2021 to primary completion in Feb 2023, 18 months.

Of 3,108 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Stroke, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 46. This study's 18 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 3,252 studies reached it within 23 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 46.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 30, 2021
First posted
Oct 28, 2021
StartActual
Aug 2, 2021
Primary completionActual
Feb 25, 2023
CompletionActual
Mar 14, 2023
Last update
Mar 22, 2023
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 22, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05097391
Lead sponsor
Bayero University Kano, Nigeria
Responsible party
Abdulhamid Umar Maje (Principal Investigator, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 28, 2021
Start date
Aug 2, 2021
Primary completion
Feb 25, 2023
Completion
Mar 14, 2023
Last update
Mar 22, 2023

Study contacts

Abdulhamid U Maje, M.Sc.
principal investigator · Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital, Kano State

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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