Mu sic an d rhythm hav e been ext en siv ely and univ er s ally utilized t o
accompany mot or act iv ity and t o influ en ce the emotion al and psy chological
aspect s of human beh avior . Furthermor e, there is con sider able eviden ce in
mot or control r esear ch that audit ory rhythm can improv e timin g and
v ariability of mot or r espon se. T he effect , howev er , of mu sic and rhythm on
mot or activity including mechanics of h emipar etic g ait h as n ot been
inv est igat ed our count ry .
T he purpos e of th e fir st experiment was to ident ify wheth er there are
immediat e ent r ainment effect s of rhythmic au dit ory stimulation on gait
pat t ern s for pat ient s with stroke. T he purpos e of the second experiment was
to identify whether t r ainin g with rhythmic audit ory stimulation for a 3- week
period would improv e gait performance.
Study part icipant s wer e 15 subject s (9 male / 6 female) r an ging in ag e
from 47- 64 y ear s (mean age 56 y ear s ) with a diagn osis of stroke. Fift een
subject s wer e stu died ov er on e or two t rials .
T he fir st trial, a bas eline walk with out rhythm an d a walk with rhythm
as pacemaker , matched to th e st ep caden ce of th e baseline walk , was
measur ed with F - scan pres sur e sen sitiv e in sole sy st em in 15 hemiplegic
st roke patient s .
Aft er 3- week s , th e s econ d t rial hav in g walk without rhythm wa s
measur ed with F - scan pres sur e sen sitiv e in sole sy st em in 10 hemiplegic
st roke patient s .
Durin g entr ainment , with RAS frequ en cy match ed t o b aselin e cadence,
single limb support on affect ed side in cr eased significantly (p〈.05). St an ce
pha se incr eas ed by an av er age 0.5% and double limb support on affect ed
side decr eas ed by an av er ag e 2.9%.
Aft er 3 week s , RAS tr aining group \'mean stance phas e (+1.8%) and single
limb support (+4.3%) on affected side in cr eased and double limb support on
affected side decr ea sed by an av erage 2.8%. but , n o- t r ainin g group \'mean
st ance pha se (- 1.6%) an d sin gle limb support (+1.0%) on affect ed side did n ot
in cr ease and what \' s mor e, double limb support on affected side in cr eased by
an av er age 1.3%.
T hese r esult s support the pr esen ce of an ent r ainment effect of au dit ory
rhythmic stimulation on hemipar et ic g ait .