Neurological Disorders and Brain Injury

Recumbent seated stepper exercise is becoming popular for the lower extremity rehabilitation as it is than upright cycling and treadmill walking and thus is an ideal exercise option. Two patients with stroke were invited to participate in the experiments. Passive markers were placed on the pelvis and lower limbs while ultra-high resolution infrared cameras (Qualisys, 700+, Sweden) were used to perform motion capturing when stepping and walking. In comparisons with stepping and walking, the stepping task had shorter pushing phase compared with the corresponding weight-bearing stance phase of walking. Hip angle kept flexed throughout the stepping phase which was very different from those during level walking. The pattern of knee angular displacement during pushing phase were not similar to those during stance phase of level walking; while the peak flexion  pattern found during returning phase was similar the necessity of a prominent peak found during swing phase of the walking condition. Although the swing phase of walking and returning phase of stepping were fundamentally different due to the weight bearing condition, non-weight bearing for the walking and partial weight bearing for the steeping tasks, this peak might be helpful to transfer the ability of flexion movement of the knee joint during training to a sufficient foot clearance during swing phase of level walking. Ankle angle had an opposite direction of movement during these two motions. As a whole, the patterns of stepping and level walking were different except the swing/retuning phase of walking/stepping.