1 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The study is being conducted to determine if a home-based walking program that uses RAS (Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation)is a viable and effective treatment of gait instability for people with MS.We hypothesize that an RAS-based home walking program will demonstrate significant improvements over both regular exercise and no exercise. To test this hypothesis we will compare between group differences from baseline and three weeks of intervention on 3 quantitative gait measures and 1 standardized MS measurement from the following 3 groups: RAS walking, RAS no walking Other: Walking exercise The secondary goal of the study will be to determine any carry-over effects of RAS on gait parameters in ambulatory patients with MS. We hypothesize that RAS will produce sustained changes in gait pattern due to entrainment processes. To test this hypothesis, we will compare gait parameters two weeks following the cessation of the intervention with baseline and with the last week of intervention. The third goal of this study is to determine if RAS-enhanced exercise has any transfer to improve other areas such as upper extremity function and/or cognitive function. We hypothesize that those participating in an RAS-based home walking program will demonstrate improvements in other domain areas, such as cognitive and upper body functioning. To test this hypothesis we will compare results from the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite(MSFC) taken at baseline and again at the end of the treatment phase for all three groups.