Researchers at the University of Maryland and Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center compared 37 patients who performed a “progressive treadmill therapy, repetitive task”, with 34 patients who did stretching. The patients had chronic hemiparesis, a weakness in one part of the body, at least six months after a stroke. The patients had completed all conventional rehabilitation.Treadmill participants increased their activity in certain brain areas by 72% in imaging tests. Changes in brain activity did not occur in patients who are stretching.
Treadmill can improve the ability of the survivors’ rewiring parts of the brain, according to new research.
“And ‘encouraging that treadmill exercise can stimulate new or underused brain circuits and improve the functioning of the survivors even after completion of conventional rehabilitation treatment,” says Luft.
The group covers had the same number of sessions and duration of each session was also the same. They conducted a series of mats covers a traditional board mobilized with the help of an instructor.
In the study, published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, the authors argue that the treadmill exercise should be included in therapy programs to long-term survivors of stroke.
The researchers examined magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, and knee flexion exercises, participants that simulate walking. MRI showed blood oxygenation and flow in the brain stem and cerebellum of the survivors who had used the treadmill, but not in those who did stretching.
The treadmill group was given the target of three sessions of 40 minutes per week on the treadmill at 60% heart rate reserve. They started slowly, adding the duration and intensity every two weeks. The six months.
The researchers measured the results in three ways: by looking at brain activity on MRI, measuring the ability to walk, and evaluate the fitness level in general. The results of the best treadmill in all three categories.
The study also shows the exercise treadmill can be better than traditional exercise prescribed after a stroke, both for walking and general fitness.