Abstract
We investigated the relation between independent walking ability and agility on the non-paretic side of hemiplegic stroke patients [independent walking (IW) group, 9 persons; assisted walking (AW) group, 9 persons] and 9 healthy middle-aged persons (HW group). We measured the interval time of maximum tapping and maximum stepping on the non-paretic side. Significant differences were found among all the groups for maximum tapping and stepping and maximum tapping and stepping became faster in the order of the AW, IW and HW groups. The results suggest that, as the agility of the non-paretic side decreases in hemiplegic stroke patients, so does their walking ability. We consider that approaches focusing not only on the paretic side, but also on the non-paretic side would possibly lead to improvements in walking ability of hemiplegic stroke patients.
