ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Motor Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1587153
Comparative Effects of Arithmetic, Speech, and Motor Dual-Task Walking on Gait in Stroke Survivors: A Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
- 2Queshan County People's Hospital, Henan, China
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The application of dual-task walking paradigms for gait assessment in stroke patients is critical, where varying concurrent tasks may elicit distinct gait patterns of dual-task interference. This study assessed the acute effects of different types of dual tasks on gait in stroke patients during task performance, informing occupational and physical therapists about care recommendations to prevent patients from falling and improve their balance function in daily life.Methods: 19 stroke patients (52.7±6.9 years old) performed the walking-only and dual-task walking (motor, arithmetic and speech) task test while a 3D motion capture system measured the gait parameters (the gait spatial-temporal parameters, the sagittal angle of motion of lower-limb joints, gait parameter variability and dual-task cost). One-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the effects of the above four walking conditions on gait parameters.Results: Arithmetic task and speech task interference can affect the gait of stroke patients (P＜0.05). Arithmetic task interference has the greatest impact on step speed, cadence, single support phase, hip joint range in support period and has the greatest dual-task cost, speech task interference has the greatest impact on cadence coefficient of variation (P＜0.05). The motor task was not significantly different from walking-only (P＞0.05).Both arithmetic and speech tasks have a great impact on gait in stroke patients. Faced with cognitive interference, stroke patients spontaneously adopted a "cautious gait" walking pattern. In future rehabilitation training, diversity of task types is critical for gait rehabilitation training based on the walking ability of the patients.
Keywords: Stroke, dual-task, Gait, Variability of gait, Dual-task cost
Received: 04 Mar 2025; Accepted: 17 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Wang, Li, Liu and Wan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xianglin Wan, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
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