To the Locomotor Experience Applied Post-Stroke (LEAPS) study web site.

Of the 750,000 Americans who have a stroke, approximately 75% will experience physical disability that impairs their ability to walk. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research has recently awarded a 5-year grant to investigate the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions specifically designed to improve walking in the first year after stroke.

Researchers will study 400 stroke patients, ages 18 and older, to determine the best timing to begin physical therapy and the effectiveness of particular therapy methods to reduce walking disabilities after a stroke. The multi-site, randomized trial will assess whether there is a difference in the proportion of subjects who successfully recover walking ability using a locomotor training program versus a group with a therapist supervised, home-based, exercise program.

In addition to examining the effect of the therapies on walking speed, researchers will assess if improvements in walking speed of persons post-stroke ultimately improves their activities of daily living and quality of life.

The study, known as the Locomotor Experience Applied Post-Stroke (LEAPS) trial, is a collaborative effort between rehabilitation researchers at Duke University and University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Pamela Duncan of Duke, the study’s principal investigator along with Dr. Katherine Sullivan of USC, and Dr. Andrea Behrman of UF, the study’s co-principal investigators, will lead a national group of interdisciplinary researchers in this effort, including Dr. Stanley Azen of USC, Dr. Samuel Wu of UF, Dr. Steve Nadeau of UF and Dr. Bruce Dobkin of UCLA. Five community-based rehabilitation hospitals in Florida and Southern California will serve as clinical sites, these 5 sites are:

• Brooks Center for Rehabilitation Studies in Jacksonville, FL, with team leader Joann Gallichio, PT
• Florida Hospital Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine in Orlando, FL, with team leader Craig Moore, PT and Bettina Brutsch, PT
• Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, CA, with team leader Anita Correa, PT
• USC PT Associates in Los Angeles, CA, with team leader Julie Hershberg, DPT and Co-Team Leader Samneang Ith-Chang, DPT
• Sharp Memorial Rehabilitation Center in San Diego, CA, with team leader Molly McLeod, PT