The effects of haptic forces on locomotion and posture in post-stroke and elderly adults

We developed a system combining haptic tensile forces in the direction of locomotion in a virtual environment to investigate its effects on steady-state walking in elderly post-stroke and age-matched controls. Chronic stroke participants (n=6) and healthy age-matched controls (n=6) increased walking velocity by as much as 22% in the stroke group and 18.5% in the control group. This was accompanied by similar changes in stride length, which increased as much as 15% when walking with the haptic force in the stroke group. While double and single limb support times showed some signs of reduction relative to the pre-force baseline, further investigation is needed to determine whether there are proportional changes in double limb support durations relative to the paretic or non-paretic limb.