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Interactive Intensive Gait Training in Walking Limitations
Sponsor: IRCCS San Raffaele Roma
Summary
Gait-MAP is a prospective, randomized, single-blind clinical trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an Intensive Interactive Gait Training (IIGT) program in adults with neurological conditions associated with pyramidal syndrome and walking limitations. The study aims to determine whether interactive treadmill-based gait training, incorporating body-weight support, virtual reality exercises, and real-time visual and auditory feedback, can improve walking efficiency, endurance, functional mobility, and participation in daily and community life compared with conventional gait rehabilitation. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the experimental group (EG), receiving IIGT, or the control group (CG), receiving conventional gait rehabilitation with comparable duration, frequency, and intensity. The experimental intervention will consist of approximately 15 sessions of 45 minutes and will include task-specific exercises and controlled environmental challenges designed to reproduce real-life walking situations. Both interventions will be integrated into the participants' standard multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. The primary outcome is the Cost of Walking (CW), assessed through cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), including oxygen consumption (VO₂), carbon dioxide production (VCO₂), and other physiological parameters. Secondary outcomes will assess walking endurance and mobility, motor function, fatigue, balance confidence, independence, quality of life, and community participation using an ICF-based assessment framework. Measures include the 6-Minute Walk Test, 10-Meter Walk Test, Timed Up and Go and dual-task TUG, Functional Ambulation Classification, Modified Barthel Index, SF-36, Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale, and Walking Handicap Scale. Participants will be assessed at baseline, during treatment, at the end of treatment, and at a 3-month follow-up. The study is expected to determine whether IIGT can enhance walking efficiency and endurance while promoting greater autonomy and transfer of rehabilitation gains to real-life mobility and social participation.
Official title: Enhancing Ambulatory Performance: the Impact of Interactive Intensive Gait Training on Endurance and Social Participation in Real-Life Scenarios for People With Walking Limitations (an ICF-based RCT)
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 80 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
112
Start Date
2026-10-01
Completion Date
2029-08
Last Updated
2026-11-03
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Intensive Interactive Gait Training
Intensive Interactive Gait Training (IIGT) will be delivered using a sensorized treadmill with body-weight support and interactive virtual reality-based exercises providing real-time visual and auditory feedback. The intervention will simulate real-life walking challenges and will be tailored to each participant's functional status, limitations, and rehabilitation goals. Training will be task-specific and of moderate-to-high intensity. Participants will receive approximately 15 sessions of 45 minutes each, integrated into the standard multidisciplinary rehabilitation program.
Conventional Gait Rehabilitation
Conventional gait rehabilitation will be delivered over the same treatment period, with comparable duration, frequency, and intensity as the experimental intervention. Treatment will follow national and international recommendations for neurological gait rehabilitation and will be individualized according to each participant's functional status, limitations, and rehabilitation goals. The intervention will be integrated into the standard multidisciplinary rehabilitation program.
Locations (1)
IRCCS San Raffaele
Roma, Italy, Italy