Treadmill walking with eyes covered to aid recovery after a recent stroke

Efficacy of Treadmill Walking With Hidden Vision for Rehabilitation in the Subacute Phase of Stroke, Randomized Controlled Trial

This test sees if walking on a treadmill with your eyes covered, while supported by a harness, helps people within six months after a stroke improve walking speed, balance, and body awareness.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 36 (estimated)
• Ages: 18 Years and up
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Régional Metz-Thionville (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (Metz)
• Trial ID: NCT06972355 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

Thirty-six adults within six months of an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke will be randomized to one of two parallel groups. The experimental group will perform treadmill walking sessions with an opaque mask while using a Lite Gait® body-weight–support harness; the control group will follow the same protocol with eyes open. Each 20-minute walking session is delivered three times per week for six weeks as part of standard rehabilitation. Outcomes include single- and dual-task walking speed, multiple balance measures (center-of-pressure metrics, Romberg quotient, MCTSIB), gait parameters (10-meter walk, step timing and symmetry), and proprioception via joint-position sense testing.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Adults (18+) within six months of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke who have NIHSS 1–15, MoCA 18–30, a physiotherapy prescription, can walk 20 minutes on a treadmill with body-weight support and can maintain standing balance with eyes open and closed for 30 seconds are ideal candidates.

Not a fit: Patients with significant visual impairment (best corrected acuity <5/10, homonymous hemianopia or quadrantanopia), those over the 200 kg equipment limit, with unstable severe comorbidities, or who cannot tolerate treadmill walking are unlikely to benefit.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could improve walking speed, postural balance, and proprioceptive control after subacute stroke, potentially lowering fall risk and increasing independence.

How similar studies have performed: Vision-deprivation or reduced-vision gait programs have been used in pediatric, geriatric, and chronic stroke groups with limited published evidence of benefit, but this approach has not been specifically studied in the subacute stroke phase.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. 18 years of age or older,
2. With a confirmed diagnosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke in sub-acute phase (stroke less than 6 months old),
3. With NIHSS scores between 1 and 15 and MoCA scores between 18 and 30
4. With a physiotherapy prescription for post Stroke rehabilitation
5. Able to walk for 20 min on a treadmill with weight reduction with pauses, able to maintain bipodal balance, able to maintain bipodal balance with eyes open and closed for 30 seconds,
6. Having expressed free, informed and written consent
7. Affiliated with a social security scheme.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients weighing over 200 kg (maximum weight permitted for use of the Lite Gait ®),
2. Patients with impaired vision:

   1. Best corrected visual acuity below 5/10 on patient examination
   2. Homonymous lateral hemianopia, quadranopia.
3. Inability to physically participate in intensive rehabilitation due to severe, unstabilized and comorbidities (heart, lung, kidney disease or diabetes), severe psychiatric disorders cancer active or under treatment.
4. Patients participating in other interventional research,
5. Pregnant or breast-feeding women,
6. Patients under guardianship.

Where this trial is running

Metz

• CHR Metz-Thionville Hopital Legouest — Metz, France (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Pauline AMSTUTZ — CHR Metz Thionville Hopital Legouest
• Study coordinator: Arpiné EL NAR, PhD

Conditions Subacute Stroke; Stroke; Gait; Treadmill; Double task; Proprioception; Postural balance