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7240898 
Journal Article 
The impact of an anti-gravity treadmill (AlterG) training on walking capacity and corticospinal tract structure in children with cerebral palsy 
Azizi, S; Marzbani, H; Raminfard, S; Birgani, PM; Rasooli, AH; Mirbagheri, MM; , 
2017 
IEEE 
NEW YORK 
1150-1153 
English 
29060079 
WOS:000427085301151 
We studied the effects of an anti-gravity treadmill (AlterG) training on walking capacity and corticospinal tract structure in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). AlterG can help CP children walk on the treadmill by reducing their weights up to 80% and maintain their balance during locomotion. AlterG training thus has the potential to improve walking capacity permanently as it can provide systematic and intense locomotor training for sufficiently long period of time and produce brain neuroplasticity. AlterG training was given for 45 minutes, three times a week for two months. The neuroplasticity of corticospinal tract was evaluated using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). The fractional Anisotropy (FA) feature was extracted to quantify structural changes of the corticospinal tract. Walking capacity was evaluated using popular clinical measurements of gait; i.e., walking speed, mobility and balance. The evaluations were done before and after training. Our results revealed that AlterG training resulted in an increase in average FA value of the corticospinal tract following the training. The outcome measures of clinical assessments of gait presented enhanced walking capacity of the CP subjects. Our findings indicated that the improved walking capacity was concurrent with the enhancement of the corticospinal tract structure. The clinical implication is that AlterG training may be considered as a therapeutic tool for permanent gait improvement in CP children. 
39th Annual International Conference of the IEEE-Engineering-in-Medicine-and-Biology-Society (EMBC) 
, SOUTH KOREA