Locomotor therapy in neurorehabilitation

Gait rehabilitation is a major aspect of neurological rehabilitation. This review is on locomotor therapy by treadmill stimulation with partial body weight support evolving as a very promising treatment concept over the last years. It enables severely affected patients the repetitive practice of complex gait cycles and thus follows modern aspects of motor learning favoring a task-specific approach. Several studies have shown its potential in patients after stroke, spinal cord injury, M. Parkinson and cerebral palsy. An electromechanical gait trainer relieving the strenuous effort of the therapists and controlling the trunk in a phase-dependent manner is a new alternative.