Muscle Synergy Analysis in Ergometer-Based Gait Recovery Training for Stroke Patients

This paper quantitatively analyses the effects of training with an ergometer by analyzing muscle synergies of muscle movements that appear in patients during gait function recovery training using an ergometer. By setting the load of the ergometer appropriately, the muscle synergies that appear when healthy participant train with the ergometer have a close similarity to the muscle synergies that appear during walking, suggesting that training with the ergometer is useful for the recovery of walking function. Furthermore, when stroke patients trained with the ergometer, the paralyzed leg did not show muscle synergies that were common to those during walking. This was therefore found to be due to the structure of the ergometer, which is operated using both legs, and the healthy leg compensating for the movement on the side of the paralyzed leg.