The subject inclusion criteria were as follows: more than six
months after the injury, the ability to walk 10 m independently
without aid, and the ability to rise from a chair without the use of
the hands and with the non-paretic lower limb supported on a step.
All the patients had a Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) score of below
two-grade spasticity and a Mini Mental State Examination
(MMSE) score of 24 or higher. Individuals were excluded if they had
less than 15° of passive ankle dorsiflexion, an orthopedic disorder
that could interfere with the experiment, neglect of space on the affected
side, or any other neurologic disease or auditory or visual
deficit that could prevent data collection. The University Research
Ethics Board approved the study protocol, and all the subjects gave
their informed consent. The experiment subjects underwent neurologic
physical therapy five times a week under a physical therapist