To investigate the effect of exercise on the walking economy (WE) of patients with chronic neurological conditions (CNCs) and to determine the type of physical activity that best improves the WE of patients with CNCs.
Four electronic databases were searched until December 2022 (Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane, and CINAHL). Studies were screened using the following inclusion criteria: 1. randomized controlled or non-randomized controlled trials; 2. exercise interventions >4 weeks in duration; 3. patients aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of CNCs. 4. walking economy of patients measured before and after the intervention. The PEDro scale was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies.
Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis results showed that exercise significantly improved WE (g = −0.352, 95% CI, −0.625 to −0.078,