Assessment of Postural Control and Gait in Patients with Chronic Stroke After Treadmill Perturbation-Based Training: A Randomized Clinical Trial

<b>Background:</b> After ischemic heart disease, stroke is globally the second leading cause of death and the second most common cause of disability. The rehabilitation of patients with chronic stroke increasingly uses advanced technologies, such as treadmill perturbation-based training (TPBT). While the results of studies with TPBT are promising, they are inconclusive due to the limited number of works and inconsistent research methodologies. Therefore, more randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are needed to evaluate TPBT's efficacy and applicability in post-stroke rehabilitation. This prospective RCT was designed to assess whether and to what extent TPBT can improve postural balance and gait quality and reduce fear of falling in patients with chronic stroke. <b>Methods:</b> Fifty individuals who were at least six months post-stroke were enrolled in the trial and randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG; n = 25) to receive the TPBT or the control group (CG; n = 25) to receive overground gait and balance training. Both groups exercised six times per day for three weeks. <b>Results:</b> The Berg Balance Scale showed post-intervention that the postural balance improved significantly in both groups (EG, <i>p</i> = 0.001 and CG, <i>p</i> = 0.009), but the change did not statistically significantly differentiate the EG from the CG (<i>p</i> = 0.256). The significant improvements in walking speed over the distance of 10 m (<i>p</i> = 0.015) and fear of falling (<i>p</i> = 0.002) in the CG were not significantly different from those in the EG (<i>p</i> = 0.543). <b>Conclusions:</b> TPBT applied to patients with chronic stroke improves their postural control comparably to conventional gait and balance training but does not enhance their gait quality.