Effects of Rhythmic Auditory Cueing Augments Cognitive Treadmill Walking Training in Individuals With Chronic Stroke

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Cognitive Treadmill Walking Training with Rhythmic Auditory Cueing (CTW+RAC) group: Participants in the CTW+RAC group participate in 12-session programs administered for 30 minutes each session, 3 times per week for 4 weeks. To increase adaptability to rhythmic auditory cueing prior to cognitive treadmill walking training, participants are required to keep stepping on their feet while listening to the auditory cueing using a metronome program (Metronome APP) for 5 minutes of warm up. Then they start walking on a treadmill with a target speed and perform a cognitive task concurrently while listening rhythmic auditory cueing. According to previous research, the target treadmill speed at week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4 is gradually increased from 90%, 100%, 110%, to 120% baseline walking speed of comfortable walking on the ground. The beat of rhythmic auditory cueing using the Metronome APP on the smartphone is set at 110% of baseline cadence of comfortable walking on the ground based on a previous study in individuals with stroke.

Cognitive Treadmill Walking Training (CTW) group: Participants in the CTW group will participate in 12-session programs administered for 30 minutes each session, 3 times per week for 4 weeks. They will start stepping on the ground at comfortable pace for 5 minutes of warm up. Then they will start walking on a treadmill with a target speed and perform a cognitive task concurrently without rhythmic auditory cueing. Same cognitive training and target treadmill speed will be used as the CTW+RAC group during cognitive dual-task treadmill walking. Three cognitive training programs will be the verbal fluency, arithmetic, and visual distinguish tasks. The target treadmill speed will be gradually increased from 90% at week 1, to 100% at week 2, to 110% at week 3, to 120% baseline walking speed of comfortable walking on the 10 meters walk test at week 4.

Treadmill Walking Training (TW): Participants in the TW group will participate in 12-session programs administered for 30 minutes each session, 3 times per week for 4 weeks. They will start stepping on the ground at comfortable pace for 5 minutes of warm up. Then they will start walking on a treadmill with a target speed only, without concurrent performing a cognitive task and no listening rhythmic auditory cueing. Same target treadmill speed will be used as the other two groups during treadmill walking. The target treadmill speed will be gradually increased from 90% at week 1, to 100% at week 2, to 110% at week 3, to 120% baseline walking speed of comfortable walking on the ground.

Study summary

The first objective of this study is to examine the superiority of the combined rhythmic auditory cueing with cognitive treadmill training (combined group) in people with stroke as compared with the cognitive treadmill walking training (cognitive group) or treadmill walking training alone (treadmill group) (Aim 1). The study's second aim is to investigate the factors affecting the improvement in community walking capacity after interventions and to explore whether changes in community walking capacity are associated with changes in participation after interventions (Aim 2).

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• walking speed (m/s) under single-task walking and dual-task walking with the Stroop task — baseline, after 4-week intervention, one-month follow-up
  Participants will walk 10 meters at their preferred speed with and without the Stroop task twice, respectively. The spatiotemporal gait parameters will be examined using Physilog® sensors (Gait Up, Switzerland) and analyzed by the Gait Analysis Package software on the USB key. Walking speed (m/s) is the mean speed of forward walking, calculated in meters per second.
• swing phase asymmetry under single-task walking and dual-task walking with the Stroop task — baseline, after 4-week intervention, one-month follow-up
  Swing phase asymmetry (%) is the ratio of swing which compares the time in the air for the two feet, in percent.
• stride length asymmetry under single-task walking and dual-task walking with the Stroop task — baseline, after 4-week intervention, one-month follow-up
  Stride length asymmetry (%) is the ratio of stride length which compares the stride length for the two feet, in percent. A perfect symmetry outputs a value of 0%.
• cognitive composite score — baseline, after 4-week intervention, one-month follow-up
  The Stroop task is the commonly utilized dual-task paradigm and measures executive function and response inhibition, which plays a vital role during walking. Therefore, the Stroop task will be selected to assess cognitive dual-task walking. The Stroop task will be performed while sitting and walking to assess executive function under single-task and dual-task conditions. The following is the formula for calculating the cognitive composite score: Cognitive composite score of the Stroop task = \[Accuracy(%)/Reaction time(milliseconds)\] \* 100. The better the cognitive performance of the Stroop task, the higher the cognitive composite score. The instructions for the dual-task walking (walking + Stroop) are designed to encourage neutral prioritization between the two tasks ("walk at the preferred speed while performing the Stroop task as accurately and quickly as you can").

Trial sites (1)

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