The effects of auditory rhythms and instruction on walking patterns in individuals post stroke

The objective was to investigate the effects of auditory rhythms and arm movement on inter-segmental coordination during walking in persons who have suffered a stroke. Eleven subjects walked on a treadmill: (1) during systematic increases in velocity (0.22–1.52 m/s), (2) with instructions to ‘step to the beat’ during systematic increases in metronome frequency (1–2.2 Hz), and (3) with instructions: ‘move the arms and legs to the beat’ during systematic increases in metronome frequency (1–2.2 Hz). Movement amplitude of upper and lower body segments, frequency coordination between arm and leg movements, phase relation between upper and lower body segments were measured. Moving the arms and legs to the beat resulted in increased arm swing along with 1:1 frequency coordination between the arm and leg, and a more out-of-phase relation between transverse pelvic and thoracic rotation was observed with larger pelvic and thoracic rotations. Verbal instructions to move the arms to the beat of a metronome leads to increased arm swing, increased stride length, but further study is needed to examine the dynamics of the changes in arm movement, to enhance understanding of how upper extremity movement dysfunction affects inter-segmental coordination during walking.