Walking in water and on land after an incomplete spinal cord injury

Abstract

Hydrotherapy is used in the rehabilitation protocols of spinal cord injury (SCI) patients, although no data are available on the effects of water on the gait of SCI subjects. Our aim is to characterize gait features of adults with incomplete SCI walking in water and on land in comparison with healthy subjects (CTRL). With reference to on-land data, SCI patients’ gait in water was characterized by speed and stance phase reduction, gait cycle time increment and invariance of stride length and ROM values. Comparison with CTRL data remarked that, walking in water reduces gait differences between groups. Furthermore in water SCI subjects presented more stable hip and knee joint angles, while in controls, a larger variability was observed. These data are of relevance for guiding gait-training protocols in water for SCI subjects.