Research has found that training stroke survivors to walk at a faster speed during recovery can help improve the brain function that enables people to walk and perform another task simultaneously, known as dual-task walking.

People who’ve had a stroke often struggle to walk and do tasks that involve thinking at the same time, for example, activities such as walking and holding a conversation, or planning what to do next. To effectively walk in the community, cognitive effort is needed to navigate safely and deal with distractions. Many people fail to regain this ability after a stroke.

Dual-task training did not directly improve ability

To improve the ability to walk and think at the same time, rehabilitation approaches have been to directly practice walking and doing something that requires thinking at the same time, known as dual-task training. A previously-run randomised controlled trial led by Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford found that this training did not improve people’s ability to dual-task walk any more than just walking training.

Researchers believed that a reason why people struggle with dual-task walking after a stroke may be linked to their walking automaticity — the pattern our brains run which means we don’t have to think about walking. This pattern is linked to the cyclic pattern of walking whereby one step ‘signals’ the next step to follow. If someone walks very slowly this pattern could be disrupted so that walking becomes more like independent steps, rather than a cycle.

Secondary analysis found faster walkers improved dual-task walking

The new research analysed data from the previously-run trial to compare how people who walked slowly and people who walked at faster speeds responded to dual-task training.

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Materials provided by Oxford Brookes University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.