Automatic gait evoking in healthy adults through Vojta's peripheric somatosensory stimulation: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.

Background: To study the effects of different interventions on automatic gait processing in contrast with voluntary gait processing in healthy subjects.

Methods: A double-blind randomised controlled trial was designed (120 able-body persons between 18 and 65 years old entered and completed the study), with pre-intervention and post-intervention assessments using the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT). The participants were randomly distributed into four groups. Prior to intervention, all participants performed voluntary gait on the ground (VoG) in a calibrated circuit following the 6MWT. The presence of automatic gait (AG) was explored post-intervention without a voluntary demand in the same circuit following the 6MWT. Each group received a different intervention for 30 min: Vojta stimulation, MOTOMED^® at no less than 60 revolutions/minute, treadmill walking at 3 km/h, and resting in a chair (control). The main assessment, conducted by a blinded rater, was the difference in distance covered (in meters) during the 6MWT between pre- and post-intervention. Surface electromyography (sEMG) average root mean square (RMS) signals in the right tibialis anterior, right soleus, right rectus femoris, and right biceps femoris were also considered outcome measures.

Results: The Vojta group was the only one that initiated AG after the intervention (476.4 m ± 57.1 in VoG versus 9.0 m ± 8.9 in AG, p < 0.001) with comparable kinematics and EMG parameters during voluntary gait, except for ankle dorsal flexion. Within the Vojta group, high variability in kinematics, sEMG activity, and distance covered was observed.

Conclusions: AG isolation is approachable through Vojta at only one session measurable with the 6MWT without any voluntary gait demand. No automatic gait effects were observed post-intervention in the other groups.

Trial registration: NCT04689841 (ClinicalTrials.gov).