Subjects

Twenty-five subjects (17 male and 8 female, age from 43 to 77 years old) with subacute stroke (from 14 to 85 days after stroke) were recruited for this study. The characteristics of the stroke survivors were summarized in Table ​Table1.1. Patients were selected according to the following inclusion criteria: (1) the occurrence of a first stroke with unilateral hemiparesis lesions confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography; (2) no more than 3 months after stroke; (3) ability to stand up and sit down independently more than six times from a standard chair; (4) abnormal 10-m walk time according to age. Abnormal 10-m walk time was defined as: (i) age <60 = total completion time of over 10 s or slower than 1 m/s, (ii) age 60–69 = over 12.5 s or slower than 0.8 m/s, (iii) age ≥70 = over16.6 s or slower than (0.6 m/s) (25); and (5) adequate mental and auditory capacity to follow oral commands (Mini mental state examination score ≥27).

Anthropometric characteristics of the subjects.

Seventeen healthy controls matched for age, weight, leg length, and gender participated in this study to provide the reference data for STS movement. All subjects had no history of back pain, joints pain, and no diagnosed lower limbs musculoskeletal disorders within 6 months prior to data collection. This study was approved by the Human Subjects Ethics Sub-committee of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, China (ethic number [2014]0.88). The study was conducted in accordance to the Declaration of Helsinki. All subjects provided informed written consent prior to enrollment.