RAS in Gait Training for Children and Youth after ABI

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) in gait rehabilitation for children and youth following Acquired Brain Injury

• IRAS ID

  188173

• Contact name

  Jonathan Pool

• Contact email

  jpool@thechildrenstrust.org.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  The Children's Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) in gait rehabilitation uses rhythmic music to improve walking patterns, and has been shown to be of benefit to patients with different neurological disorders, such as Parkinsons Disease (Del Olmo et al., 2006), Stroke (Thaut et al., 2005) and Cerebral Palsy (Thaut et al., 1998). There is a severe lack of research about the effect of RAS on children with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI).
  This study aims to investigate whether this technique can cause improvements in the walking patterns of children and young people who have gait problems following an ABI, for example, due to road traffic accidents or stroke. RAS will be part of their standard inpatient rehabilitation programme and will supplement their standard physiotherapy programme. The researchers intend to test the hypothesis that ‘RAS enhances outcomes during gait training’. The findings from this small study will inform brain injury clinicians about the use of RAS. It will also influence future studies in this area.
  First, children, young people and their families will be informed about the project by their physiotherapist while they are receiving treatment at the rehabilitation unit at The Children's Trust. Then, those that meet criteria for inclusion in the study will be recruited via informed consent in consultation with their parents. This process of recruitment and data collection will occur over 15 months to enable the researchers to recruit as many participants to the study as possible. All participants will receive three to four weeks of standard physiotherapy and then four weeks of physiotherapy with RAS. The RAS sessions will be structured and involve the participants walking to rhythms. Measurements of gait quality and speed will be taken at each session.

• REC name

  South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  17/SC/0052

• Date of REC Opinion

  10 Mar 2017

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion