Influence of treadmill speed selection on gait parameters compared to overground walking in subacute rehabilitation patients.

[Purpose] Treadmill-based interventions are widely utilized in rehabilitation due to their advantages of providing controlled environments and enabling individualized training. However, the differences between overground and treadmill walking during the subacute rehabilitation phase remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to compare gait parameters between treadmill walking at varying speeds and overground walking in a subacute rehabilitation setting. [Participants and Methods] A total of 42 inpatients with cerebrovascular and orthopedic conditions were recruited from a convalescent rehabilitation ward. Gait parameters were measured using the Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab (GRAIL) system during comfortable overground walking and treadmill walking at various speeds, including self-selected comfortable speeds and speeds matched to overground walking. Walking speed, stride length, cadence, and step width were calculated without markers and compared across conditions. [Results] The comfortable treadmill walking speed was significantly lower than the overground walking speed (mean [standard deviation]: 0.85 [0.23] m/s vs. 1.20 [0.20] m/s). Stride length was significantly shorter during treadmill walking at comfortable speeds compared to overground walking (0.86 [0.22] m vs. 1.21 [0.18] m), whereas step width was significantly wider (0.17 [0.04] m vs. 0.13 [0.03] m). [Conclusion] Maintaining cadence at reduced treadmill speeds promotes comfortable endurance training in subacute rehabilitation patients.