Effectiveness of an 8-week overground walking with paretic lower limb loading on spatiotemporal gait parameters and motor function among chronic stroke survivors: a protocol for randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: 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. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to describe a protocol for a randomised controlled trial on the effectiveness of an 8-week overground walking with paretic lower limb loading on spatiotemporal gait parameters and motor function among chronic stroke survivors. METHODS: This is a two-center, single-blind, two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial. Forty-eight stroke survivors with mild to moderate disability will be recruited from two tertiary facilities and randomly assigned into two intervention arms; overground walking with paretic lower limb loading or overground walking without paretic lower limb loading in a 1:1 ratio. All interventions will be administered thrice weekly for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes will be step length and gait speed whereas the secondary outcomes will include step length symmetry ratio, stride length, stride length symmetry ratio, stride width, cadence and motor function. All outcomes will be assessed at baseline, 4, 8 and 20 weeks after the start of intervention. DISCUSSION: This will be the first randomised controlled trial to report the effects of overground walking with paretic lower limb loading on spatiotemporal gait parameters and motor function among chronic stroke survivors from low-resource setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05097391. Registered on 27 October 2021.