Effects of visual feedback training and visual targets on muscle activation, balancing, and walking ability in adults after hemiplegic stroke: a preliminary, randomized, controlled study.

The aim of this randomized, controlled study was to investigate the effect of visual feedback through visual targets on muscle activity, balance, and gait in stroke patients. Patients were recruited from the inpatient unit of a rehabilitation hospital. Twenty-one patients who had experienced hemiplegic stroke were randomly assigned to two groups: an experimental group (visual feedback training with visual targets on gradual weight shifting), and a control group (visual feedback training on gradual weight shifting). All patients performed 30 minutes of comprehensive rehabilitation therapy followed by an additional 20 minutes of gradual weight shifting using visual feedback training with or without visual targets: three sets per day, five times a week, for 4 weeks. Significantly larger gains were identified in the experimental group compared to the control group due to gluteus medius muscle activation and the weight-bearing ability of the paretic side. Visual feedback training with visual targets during gradual weight bearing on the paretic side appears to improve the muscle activation and balancing abilities of hemiplegic stroke patients compared to visual feedback training alone.