Chronic Ambulatory Stroke Survivors: Is It Safe to Walk Faster?

Abstract

Various interventions have been proposed that target improving mobility and walking speed of stroke survivors. A typical course of physical therapy that targets increasing walking speed does not guarantee that a person is "safe" in terms of their mobility. The literature can point to no conclusions regarding the walking performance benchmarks that would be necessary in order to maximize safety and how to assess them in an integrated approach. As 40% of all stroke survivors suffer serious falls within a year after their stroke, clinicians should be cautious when treating stroke patient to increase their walking speed and that there is a need for assessment batteries that comprehensively assess threats to mobility safety in chronic ambulatory stroke survivors. This review is details the available research on factors related to mobility falls in chronic ambulatory stroke survivors. This research also propose future research using Dynamic Visual Acuity (DVA) as an assessment methodology will combine three factors that are related to mobilityrelated fall risk, i.e., vision, fast walking and dual-task walking.