Background/objective: The human movement system uses a variety of inputs to produce movements. The concurrent use of external information, specifically visutemporal cues, while walking could promote the walking ability of ambulatory patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). This study explored the use of visutemporal cues in rehabilitation training by subjecting ambulatory individuals with SCI to walking training with or without visuotemporal cues and then assessing the effects on their functional ability.
Design: Quasi-experimental study.
Setting: A tertiary rehabilitation center.
Participants: Thirty-two participants were randomly assigned to the experimental or control groups using stage of injury, severity of SCI, and baseline walking ability as criteria for group arrangement (16 participants/group).
Interventions: The participants were trained to walk over level ground at their fastest safe speed with or without a visuotemporal cue, 30 minutes/day, for 5 consecutive days.
Outcome measures: The 10-meter walk test, 6-minute walk test, timed up and go test, and five times sit-to-stand test.
Results: The participants demonstrated significant improvement in all functional tests after the 5 days of training (P < 0.001). In addition, the improvement in the group trained using the visuotemporal cue was significantly better than that trained without using the cue.
Conclusions: Most of these participants were at a chronic stage of SCI, so the findings supported a benefit for incorporating visuotemporal cues in rehabilitation practice, particularly today when the length of rehabilitation has dramatically decreased.
Keywords: Balance; Muscle strength; Physical therapy; Rehabilitation; Walking.