title: Relationships between motor function and gait-related dual-task interference after stroke: a pilot study.
abstract: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the relationships between motor performance measures and dual-task interference in gait among community-dwelling adults with stroke. Dual-task costs on gait were correlated with Fugl-Meyer lower extremity score and usual gait speed in 13 community-dwelling adults with stroke. Individuals with greater lower extremity motor impairment and slower gait speed experienced greater cognitive-motor interference in gait. Paretic single limb stance was particularly susceptible to dual-task interference. Gait speed was only vulnerable to dual-task interference in the most complex dual-task. Thus, global characteristics of gait were vulnerable in the most difficult cognitive tasks, but even easy tasks impaired discrete components of dynamic balance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, 6 Robinson Hall, Boston, MA 02115-5000, USA. pplummer@neu.edu
authors.forename: Prudence
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plummer-D'Amato
authors.forename: Lori J P
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Altmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010291:Paresis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*