An exploration of the effects of weighted garments on balance and gait of stroke patients with residual disability

Objective: To explore the effects of weighted garments on the balance and gait of stroke patients. Design: A pilot randomized controlled study with blinded measurement. Setting: Weighted garments were worn by patients living in the community and measurement was made in a hospital-based gait laboratory. Subjects: Twenty-four adults who were at least six months post stroke and were able to walk 10 metres with or without assistance or a walking aid. Intervention: The six-week treatment-phase subjects were given a set of weighted garments which they were shown how to apply and instructed to wear on their paretic side. Subjects randomly allocated to the six-week control phase were not given any weighted garments. Main outcome measures: Balance was measured with the Berg Balance Scale. Gait was measured using GaitMat II, an instrumented walkway. Gait parameters of interest were velocity and symmetry of: step length; single support time; double support time; and support base width. Measures were made at baseline before randomization (baseline) and at the end of the six weeks of intervention (outcome). Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the treatment and control groups at outcome for balance (Mann-Whitney U-test; p=0.74), gait velocity (p=0.68) or symmetry of gait parameters (p=0.33 to p=0.75). Conclusions: We found no evidence to support the clinical use of these weighted garments for stroke survivors.