The Split-Belt Walking Paradigm: Exploring Motor Learning and Spatiotemporal Asymmetry Poststroke.

Although significant effort is concentrated toward gait retraining during stroke rehabilitation; 33% of community-dwelling individuals following stroke continue to demonstrate gait asymmetries following participation in conventional rehabilitation. Recent studies utilizing the split-belt treadmill indicate that subjects after stroke retain the ability to learn a novel locomotor pattern. Through the use of error augmentation, this locomotor pattern can provide a temporary improvement in symmetry, which can be exploited through repetitive task specific locomotor training. This article reviews findings from this experimental paradigm in chronic stroke survivors and discusses the future questions to be addressed in order to provide optimal rehabilitation interventions.