Split-Belt Treadmill to Treat Gait Disorders

A split-belt treadmill not only offers possibilities for studying neural control of gait and motor learning, it can also be used as a therapeutic tool to address complex gait disorders, particularly gait asymmetry, and gait adaptation deficits. These gait deficits have been linked to falls and often occur in individuals post-stroke or people with Parkinson’s disease. This chapter will first describe motor control mechanisms when walking on a split-belt treadmill and will then summarize the effectiveness of repeated split-belt treadmill training in different populations. It will be shown that split-belt treadmill training has proven to be effective for reducing gait asymmetry in stroke and improving gait adaptation and overall gait quality in Parkinson’s disease. Different options of how to adjust a split-belt treadmill to reach training progression will be presented. Finally, neurophysiological aspects of split-belt treadmill walking will be discussed.