Showing papers on "Stair climbing published in 1965"

Energy cost of stair-climbing in normal and hemiplegic subjects.

Abstract: Hemiplegic patients who are able to walk independently are also able to climb stairs independently if the stairs are provided with a banister. In fact, many heiniplegic patients, who feel insecure on level ground, climb stairs, where they can hold on to a handrail, without great difficulty. Since heiniplegia is commonly associated with cardiovascular and respiratory disease, it was considered of interest to know whether or not stair-climbing might mala excessive metabolic demands on such patients. Such a study has particular importance because of the possibility of stair-climbing being a desirable therapeutic exercise (1). The energy cost of stair-climbing in normal subjects has been studied by a number of investigators (2-6). In the present study attention was given to the effects of step height, step rate and type of climbing. In regard to type of climbing, inany heiniplegic patients ascend stairs by leading with the uninvolved leg-the unilateral leading method. Those patients with a fair degree of function in the involved leg frequently use the alternating (step-over-step) method of stair-climbing, as does the person without motor impairment. In this study the method of unilateral leading with the involved leg has been compared with the method of unilateral leading with the uninvolved leg, and also with the alternating method.