2025/12/07 by Hobbs, Bradley, Artemiadis, Panagiotis
Health Professions · Medicine · Neuroscience · #Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Motor Control and Adaptation #Robotics (cs.RO) #Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.06897
openalex publication_date 2025/12/07 · openalex created_date 2025/12/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This study investigates whether adding ground compliance to visual feedback (VF) gait training is more effective at increasing push-off force (POF) compared to using VF alone, with implications for gait rehabilitation. Ten healthy participants walked on a custom split-belt treadmill. All participants received real-time visual feedback of their ground reaction forces. One group also experienced changes in ground compliance, while a control group received only visual feedback. Intentional increases in propulsive ground reaction forces (POF) were successfully achieved and sustained post-intervention, especially in the group that experienced ground compliance. This group also demonstrated lasting after-effects in muscle activity and joint kinematics, indicating a more robust learning of natural strategies to increase propulsion. This work demonstrates how visual and proprioceptive systems coordinate during gait adaptation. It uniquely shows that combining ground compliance with visual feedback enhances the learning of propulsive forces, supporting the potential use of compliant terrain in long-term rehabilitation targeting propulsion deficits, such as those following a stroke.