Garcia RK, Nelson AJ, Ling W, Van Olden C; Department of Physical Therapy, New York University, New York, NY, USA. rgarcia@touro.edu.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the relationship between stepping-in-place (SIP) performance and select temporal-spatial gait measures in adults with hemiplegia (AWH) and healthy adults (HA). The activity of SIP requires reciprocal flexion and extension of the lower extremities (LEs), allowing for a support and swing phase, and a step frequency at a specific rate, factors found in gait. Identification of activities associated with gait may provide clinicians with additional clinical tools to improve functional gait ability in persons with neurological dysfunction. SUBJECTS: The sample consisted of two, age-matched groups of 30 adults each, between the ages of 40 and 75 years. One group consisted of AWH secondary to a cerebrovascular accident (X=58.6, SD=10.3); the other consisted of HA (X=58.1, SD=10.8). Subjects were recruited from the community and from a rehabilitation outpatient department. METHODS: Subjects were videotaped in the sagittal plane while performing three, 20-second trials of SIP and while walking. The step frequency of SIP and the gait measures were determined by manual calculations taken from the video recordings. ANALYSIS: The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the association between the step frequency of SIP (steps/min) and the following gait measures: cadence (steps/min), velocity (m/min), single limb support (SLS) of the LEs (sec), and step length of the LEs (cm). SPSS 11.0 was used for analysis. RESULTS: Correlations between SIP and the gait measures were found for both groups. Correlations ranged from r=.31 to .52 for the AWH and r=.34 to .57 for the HA. A fair to good relationship was found between SIP and cadence and velocity in both groups (r=.47 to .57). For the AWH, SIP had the highest correlation with SLS of the uninvolved LE (r=-.52). For the HA, SIP had the highest correlation with velocity (r=.57). For the AWH, SIP had the weakest correlation with SLS of the involved LE (r=-.31). For the HA group, SIP had weak correlations with right and left step length, r=.28 and r=.34, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Correlations exists between SIP and gait in AWH and HA. Stepping-in-place incorporates movement patterns similar to gait and could be used to influence gait performance in the presence of neurologic dysfunction. FUNDING SOURCE: Partially supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133P2006).

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