The purpose of this study was to determine the therapeutic effect of slope changes of the treadmill with body weight-supported training on gait characteristics in patients with hemiplegia. The volunteered subjects were divided into 3 groups based upon slope changes: control group (0° incline), 7° group (7° incline), 12° group (12° incline), They were trained the body weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) for 8 weeks. All subjects were supported up to 40% of their body weight on the treadmill training and the support was gradually decreased to 0~10% as the subjects were adapted to the training. There were significant improvements of walking velocity, step length of the affected side, the asymmetry ratio of step length in 7° group (57.80 cm/s, 67.25 cm, .14), 12° group (71.00 cm/s, 71.00 cm, .11) than control group (40.62 cm/s, 55.00 cm, .74) (p<.05): there were no differences between group 7° and 12° group in the all outcomes (p>.05). Both 7° group and 12° group scored higher than the control group in those outcomes and finally the effects of slopes changes of the treadmill were effective on gait characteristics of patients. But it s till remains undetermined what degree on the treadmill might be better to train the hemipareric patients. Therefore, more studies are required to look into minutely the changes of slopes of the treadmill influencing on gait characteristics.

Body weight support treadmill training is a new and promising therapy in gait rehabilitation of patients with hemiplegia. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of body weight support treadmill training on gait and standing balance in patients with hemiplegia. Eighteen patients with hemiplegia participated in the study. A 10 m-timed walk test, measurements of step length and standing balance score were administered. Intervention consisted of body weight support treadmill training five times a week for 2 weeks. The data were analyzed by paired t-test. Body weight support treadmill training scoring of standing balance, step length and 10 m-timed walk test showed a definite improvement. Body weight support treadmill training offers the advantages of task-oriented training with numerous repetitions of a supervised gait pattern. The outcomes suggest that patients with hemiplegia can improve their gait ability and standing balance through body weight support treadmill training.