PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of overground gait training (OGT) and treadmill gait training (TGT) on walking speed, gait endurance, and balance ability of subjects with stroke. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study subjects were 40 patients with stroke. They were randomly divided into two groups, the OGT group and the TGT group, and further categorized according to their individual walking speeds (slow < 0.5 m/s and fast > 0.5 m/s). The groups performed exercises 10 times for a week. Pre- and post-test assessments involved the measurement of walking speed, walking endurance, and balance ability, as assessed by the 10-m walking time, the 6-min walking distance, and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). RESULTS: The 10-m walking times, 6-min walking distance, and BBS scores of both the OGT group and the TGT group significantly improved, but there were no significant differences between the two groups. In the slow walking speed group, the OGT subjects showed significant improvement compared to the TGT subjects in the 6-min walk test. CONCLUSION: Overall, we conclude that OGT was more effective at improving the gait endurance of stroke patients than TGT. Further research is needed to verify the generalizability of these findings and to identify which stroke patients might benefit from OGT.

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