How to perform the exercise:
Setup: Fit the patient into the Solo-Step harness and connect the lanyard to the trolley on the overhead track. Position the patient at one end of the track, facing forward. Adjust the lanyard length to allow full upright movement while ensuring the system can engage immediately if balance is lost. Ensure the patient has adequate clearance to lift their knees without restriction from the harness.
Starting Position: Have the patient stand tall with feet hip-width apart, arms bent at approximately 90 degrees at their sides. Instruct the patient to engage their core lightly, look straight ahead, and take a moment to feel secure in the harness before initiating movement.
The Exercise:
- Cue the patient to begin walking forward, exaggerating the lift of the lead knee, driving it upward toward hip height or as high as their strength and range of motion allows.
- Instruct the patient to maintain an upright trunk throughout. Avoid leaning back or collapsing forward as the knee rises.
- As the raised foot returns to the ground with a controlled heel-to-toe contact, the opposite knee should immediately begin its upward drive, creating a smooth, rhythmic alternating pattern.
- Continue walking the full length of the track, focusing on quality and control over speed.
- Turn and return to the starting position, leading with the opposite foot.
- Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions, sets, or duration.
Progressions: As strength and confidence improve, the therapist can advance the exercise by increasing the height of the knee drive, adding a brief pause at the top of each lift, increasing the pace of the march, incorporating arm resistance with a light weight or resistance band, adding a metronome or verbal cadence to challenge rhythmic coordination, or combining high knees walking with an obstacle course along the track.