Associations between lower limb impairments, locomotor capacities and kinematic variables in the frontal plane during walking in adults with chronic stroke

Objective: The objective was to examine the associations between impairments of the paretic limb, locomotor capacities and kinematic variables in the frontal plane during walking. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: Ten community-dwelling individuals with chronic hemiparesis due to a cerebrovascular accident. Methods: Frontal plane kinematics of the shoulders and pelvis were assessed during treadmill walking in a gait lab using a videographic system to obtain the lateral displacements and lateral accelerations. The percentages of time spent in single stance were determined with foot-switches. Index of asymmetry for the lateral accelerations and single stance were also calculated. Subject motor and functional characteristics were measured by standardised clinical tests. Results: Correlation analyses with Pearson product-moment correlation or Spearman's rank correlation revealed that, except for spasticity, the clinical scores were moderately to strongly associated with frontal kinematics and the single stance. In the multiple step-wise regression analysis, only the pelvic lateral displacements and the index of asymmetry in single stance were explained at more than 70% by the clinical scores with the Time Up and Go test explaining a high proportion of the total variance of these frontal parameters. Conclusion: Findings demonstrated associations between physical impairments, locomotor capacities and the frontal kinematics in adults with chronic stroke.