stroke patients experience difficulties with not only postural alignment but also gait 
 abilities because of instability in their postural control and body balance , as well as 
 reduced motor functions1 .
they have an 
 imbalance in body weight support , with 6090% of their body weight leaning too much toward 
 the normal side because of asymmetrical body weight support at standing position2 , 3 . as 
 a result
, this imbalance affects their gait cycle ; that of a normal person consists of 60% 
 of the stance phase and 40% of the swing phase4 .
hemiplegic patients have a shorter cycle of the stance phase and a 
 longer cycle of the swing phase in the affected side than in the normal side5 . in terms of clinical therapy for walking , treadmill walking training6 , side walking training7 , and unstable surface
traditionally , a variety of methods , such as using walkers or canes and ankle - foot orthosis , 
 have been utilized to recover gait abilities9 , 10 .
these methods provide not only support of 
 physical disability during the performance of an action but also methods for independent 
 daily living11 . most of the previous studies on improvements in gait abilities conducted with hemiplegia 
 patients have focused on the determination or comparison of the effects of gait training on 
 flat ground , slope ground and stairs . in this
regard , the present study aims to determine the effect of stair task training on 
 gait abilities by conducting stair task training . in this training , step training
this study was conducted with patients who were diagnosed with stroke and admitted in c 
 hospital located in c city for their treatment .
forty patients with stroke were selected on 
 the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria , and they were randomly divided into 18 
 patients in the experimental group and 18 patients in the control group via draw . all 
 subjects provided written informed consent prior to participation according to the ethical 
 standards of the declaration of helsinki .
the selection criteria were as follows : patients diagnosed with stroke and with a disease 
 duration of more than six months , those who can walk 15  m or longer independently without 
 assisted devices , with a below grade 2 modified ashworth scale score in the lower extremity , 
 with an mmse - k ( mini - mental state examination korean version ) score more than 24 , have no 
 other diseases and orthopedic diseases in the lower extremity , and those who understood the 
 purpose of this study and gave consent to participation in this research .
on the basis of the above - mentioned inclusion criteria , 36 patients were selected and 
 divided into 18 members of the experimental group and 18 members of the control group for 
 the conduct of the pre and post test , with the same measuring tools used by the same rater . 

eighteen patients in the experimental group and eighteen patients in the control group 
 conducted the training of 30  min per session , five times a week for six weeks .
the 
 measurement method used the dartfish program , in which time at the stance and swing phases 
 during gait were measured before and after the intervention .
the experimental group used 10  cm - high steps in the stair task training .
this value was set 
 on the basis of a previous study2 stating 
 that 10  cm - high steps were more stable and easier to perform for stroke patients and 
 resulted in changes in muscle activity and increases in clinical balance abilities . with the 
 use of 10  cm - high wooden blocks ,
a 40  cm 40  cm wood block layout consisting of two 
 10  cm - high foot - step wooden blocks and one 20  cm - high block was fabricated to have a 10  cm 
 block height difference between adjacent blocks . for safety ,
sliding prevention tapes were 
 applied at the bottom of the wooden block , and the front of the arranged block had 
 handrails , and 1 m - high desks were placed on the sides to prevent a fall ; the handrails and 
 desks can be supported , if needed , during the training .
a single physiotherapist guided and 
 supervised the training to prevent safety - related accidents .
for the control group , weight support and balance training for the affected leg was 
 conducted , and a 10  min warm - up was applied at the sitting and standing positions . the 
 weight support and balance training method for the affected legs
was conducted in the 
 following order : weight support on the affected side , climbing the stairs by placing the 
 normal side in the front direction , and coming down the steps by placing the normal side 
 from the block to the original position12 . for kinematic motion analysis of the walking of hemiplegia patients ,
videos were recorded 
 for all groups before the intervention and six weeks after the intervention , and the data 
 were analyzed with dartfish ( pro suite , dfkorea , korea ) .
it uses videos to analyze and 
 interpret the motions and trace trajectories of the target subjects .
all subjects did not 
 wear shoes during measurements and were induced to walk freely and most comfortably on a 
 walking path , about 15  m in length , to enable the accurate measurement of a step length . the 
 video was shot from the 5  m point on the path , which was the middle point of the path . the 
 analysis of gait with the use of the dartfish program utilized only videos that showed a 
 complete step cycle from initial contact of the heel to the next initial contact of the 
 heel .
a mean value was calculated from the performance of two sets of walking iteratively to 
 increase the validity of the measurement . in the statistical analysis of this study , means and standard deviations were calculated 
 using spss / windows ( version 20.0 ) . in order to examine the effects prior to and after the 
 intervention of each group , a paired t - test was conducted , and in order to look at 
 differences between the groups , independent t - test was performed .
comparative analysis of the experimental group s prior -test and post - test results showed 
 statistically significant differences in the stance phase time and swing phase time ( table 1table 1.pre-test and post - test comparison in each group ( mean  sd)experimental group ( n=18)control group ( n=18)pre - testpost - testpre - testpost - teststance phase duration ( sec)1.48  1.211.61  1.17 * 1.89  1.401.90  1.33swing phase duration ( sec)0.49  0.140.41  0.11 * 0.44  0.120.44  0.12*p<0.05 ) . for the control group , comparative analysis of the prior - test and post - test 
 results had no significant differences statistically in stance phase time and swing phase 
 time ( table 1 ) .
the comparison result between 
 the two groups revealed that significant differences between groups were found in swing 
 phase time ( table 2table 2.comparison of stance phase duration , swing phase duration between the groups 
 ( mean  sd)experimental group ( n=18)control group ( n=18)stance phase duration ( sec)0.19  0.230.01  0.20swing phase duration ( sec ) * 0.08  0.100.00  0.02*p<0.05 ) .
in the clinical field , constant stair gait training can reduce the fall accidents of stroke 
 patients and result in improvements in performing independent activities13 . a study on stair gait conducted with 30 
 adult hemiplegia patients to determine changes in balance and muscle activity after gait 
 training with different stair heights reported that the 10  cm - high stair gait training group 
 showed the most significant difference in balance abilities , as well as larger changes in 
 muscle activities than stair gait groups with other heights1 .
the results of this study indicate that stair task training improved walking ability and 
 suggest the applicability of stair task training for clinical rehabilitaion .
it was 
 conducted on hemiplegia patients for six weeks and provided an approach to improve the 
 mobility functions of stroke patients .
the findings showed that the stair task training group had effective results in the swing 
 phase time affected lower extremity , compared with the group that applied weight support on 
 the affected lower extremity and balance training . in this study ,
the changes in 
 stance phase time before and after the training showed that the experimental group had a 
 significant increase in stance phase time within the group , but no significant increase was 
 found between groups ( p>0.005 ) .
the control group showed no significant increase before 
 and after the training . the comparison result on change in swing phase time before and after 
 training showed that the experimental group had a significant increase in swing phase time . 

the comparison result between groups showed that the swing phase time of the experimental 
 group was 0.08  0.10 , and that of the control group was 0.00  0.02 , which indicated a 
 significant increase between groups ( p<0.005 ) .
these results were due to the study subjects 
 adaptation to the performance of overpassing obstacles , such as steps14 . furthermore , the central nervous system attempted to 
 maintain body weight balance and apply the moving pattern strategically . the limitations of this study were as follows .
furthermore , the effects of factors other than those used in the 
 present measurement can not be excluded , so these effects can not be generalized to all stroke 
 patients .
determining long - term effects is also difficult because of the short - term training 
 period at six weeks .
this study proposes the use of stair task training because it is not limited spatially to 
 stroke patients , it is economically efficient , and it can be applied more easily and safely 
 than gait training methods by using general steps .
 [ purpose ] the aim of this study was to determine the effect of stair task training on 
 gait abilities by conducting stair task training . in this training , 
 step training is 
 applied in various directions with hemiplegia patients . 
 [ subjects and methods ] thirty - six 
 patients with stroke were selected on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria , and 
 they were randomly divided into eighteen patients in the experimental group and eighteen 
 patients in the control group via draw . 
 [ results ] in this study , the dartfish program was 
 used to measure gait capabilities . 
 experiment group showed a statistically significant 
 improvement in the swing phase time of the affected lower extremity compared to control 
 group . 
 [ conclusion ] it was found that the stair task training group had effective results 
 in the swing phase time of the affected lower extremity compared with the group that 
 applied weight support on the affected lower extremity and balance training . 
INTRODUCTION
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION