Auditory feedback control for improvement of gait in patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE

To study the use of auditory feedback for gait management and rehabilitation in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

METHODS

An auditory feedback cue, responding to the patient's own steps in closed-loop, was produced by a wearable motion sensor and delivered to the patient through ear phones. On-line (device on) and residual short-term therapeutic effects on walking speed and stride length were measured in fourteen randomly selected patients with gait disturbances predominantly due to cerebellar ataxia.

RESULTS

Patients showed an average improvement of 12.84% on-line and 18.75% residually in walking speed. Average improvement in stride length was 8.30% on-line and 9.93% residually. The improvement results are particularly noteworthy when compared with the lack of change in healthy control subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with MS using auditory feedback cues showed improvement in walking abilities.