Gait Changes with Balance-Based Torso-Weighting in People with Multiple Sclerosis

Background and Purpose People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) commonly have mobility impairments that may lead to falls and limitations in activities. Physiotherapy interventions that might improve mobility typically take several weeks. Balance-based torso-weighting (BBTW), a system of strategically placing light weights to improve response to balance perturbations, has resulted in immediate small improvements in clinical measures in PwMS, but changes in spatio-temporal gait parameters are unknown. The purpose was to investigate the effects of BBTW on gait parameters in PwMS and healthy controls.