BACKGROUND: Falls during walking remain a major cause of disability after stroke. Perturbation-based balance training (PBBT) improves reactive stability, but its effects on gait-related neuromuscular coordination and the added value of functional electrical stimulation (FES) are not well established. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether PBBT, performed with or without task-synchronized FES, improves clinical performance, intermuscular coordination during gait, and reactive balance stability in individuals with chronic stroke. METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 35 ambulatory individuals ≥ 6 months post-stroke were allocated to PBBT alone ( RESULTS: Significant main effects of Time were observed across clinical outcomes ( CONCLUSIONS: PBBT improved mobility, gait neuromuscularcoordination, and reactive balance stability in persons with stroke. Theaddition of FES did not provide additional group-level benefit. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV: NCT06237972.
Covarrubias-Escudero et al. (2026) studied this question.