Effect on Gait of Motor Task Learning Acquired in a Sitting Position

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the importance of learning a motor task in a sitting position and its influence on gait. Thirty-one healthy subjects, divided into three groups, were asked to learn a synchronous heel-up-heel-down rhythm task in a sitting position and to reproduce the rhythm during their gait cycle on three separate occasions over a three-day period. This study provided evidence that training of a subject in a sitting position produced a nonspecific influence during ambulation. The inability to obtain an exact transfer of learning from a sitting position to gait and its implication to the specificity principle of learning are discussed. Some subjects had difficulty maintaining their performance over the three-day period. This finding was attributed in part to the influence of proactive and retroactive inhibition. Mat activities, therefore, seem to have a very limited impact on modifying gait. The clinical implications of these findings are presented.

Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of Community Occupational Therapy for Stroke Patients

“…16 However, our findings are consistent with other recent stroke rehabilitation trials. 17,18 The duration and intensity of treatment sessions had little impact on the results, but the power of this analysis was reduced because limited data were available.…”

Foot control in incomplete SCI: distinction between paresis and dexterity

“…According to the finding that slowness of speed of foot tapping is a characteristic finding in upper motor neuron lesions 26 , this parameter might be a reliable clinical indicator of corticospinal damage 37 . However, the ability to perform a voluntary movement in a supine or sitting position can only be indirectly related to walking ability 32,38,39 . The basic locomotor rhythm in unobstructed locomotion is thought to be supported by spinal circuits and to be adapted by afferent feedback that is less dependent on voluntary activation 40 .…”