title: Clinical feasibility of action observation training for walking function of patients with post-stroke hemiparesis: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the effects of action observation training (AOT) on the walking ability of subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized, single-blind, controlled pilot study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inpatient rehabilitation hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis were randomly allocated to either the experimental group (EG) or the control group (CG), with 11 and 10 patients, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects in the EG and CG watched video clips demonstrating four functional walking tasks and showing different landscape images, respectively. All subjects subsequently performed the walking tasks (a total of 30 min, once a day, 3 times weekly for a 4-week period).
  
  
  METHODS
  10-m walk test, figure-of-8 walk test (time and steps), dynamic gait index (DGI), and gait symmetry score (swing and stance phases, and stride length) before and after the intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The changes between the pre- and post-test values of the 10-m walk test (median [interquartile range], -5.10 [-15.80--1.60] versus 0.00 [-6.60-4.06]), figure-of-8 walk test (time: -3.50 [-12.60--2.00] versus -1.25 [-4.98-0.25]; steps:-5.00 [-8.00--2.00] versus 0.00 [-3.25-0.25]), and DGI (4.00 [3.00-6.00] versus 1.00 [-4.00-3.00]) showed significant differences between the EG and CG (p < 0.05). In the EG, the 10-m walk test, time and steps of figure-of-8 walk test, DGI, and gait symmetry score in the stance phase showed significant differences between pre- and post-test (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that AOT can be beneficial in enhancing walking ability of patients with post-stroke hemiparesis, and may be clinically feasible as a practical adjunct to routine rehabilitation therapy. A power calculation on our data showed that 20 subjects in each group were required for further definitive studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Gwangju City Rehabilitation Hospital, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Ryoung
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, Seonam University, Namwon-si, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Man
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Gwangju City Rehabilitation Hospital, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Moon-Kyu
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Science, Cheongju University, Chungbuk, Republic of Korea odduck@cju.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Duck-Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Oh
keywords: Action observation; stroke; walking