Deans' stroke musings: Function and quality of life following stroke rehabilitation: have our stroke patients gained optimum recovery?

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Function and quality of life following stroke rehabilitation: have our stroke patients gained optimum recovery?

The answer is NO. Who is going to fix that?
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/S2/A7

Background

There is limited research data on post-rehabilitation function and quality of life despite the increasing role of rehabilitation in the care of stroke patients in Malaysia. Outcome data is important in evaluating the effectiveness of stroke rehabilitation services in the country.

Aims

The aim of this study was to assess function and quality of life in stroke patients following intensive rehabilitation at a tertiary hospital.

Materials and methods

This was a cross-sectional study of 91 stroke patients; mean age 58.9±10.6 years, 79% male, median stroke duration 13 months who have completed intensive individual rehabilitation at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre in the years 2010 and 2011. Rehabilitation outcome was measured with the use of standardised tools; Rivermead Mobility Scale (RMI), Berg’s Balance Scale (BBS), Sit to Stand Test (STS) for lower limb strength and Timed 10 metre walk test for walking speed. Post-rehabilitation disability level and quality of life were also assessed on a Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Euro-Qol 5 Dimensions-Visual analogue Scale (EQ5D-VAS), respectively. All data were analysed descriptively using SPSS version 18.

Results

The median duration of rehabilitation was 10.5 months (range 5-25) in the study patients and post-rehabilitation mean mRS was 2.3±0.7. The median RMI was 13 (range 6-15), median BBS 51 (range 20-56) and median STS 15.5 secs (range 7.9-83.9 secs). The EQ5D-VAS mean score was 71.5±17 and mean walking speed at the completion of intensive rehabilitation was 49.4±28.3 m/min; less 22 m/min when compared with the optimum walking speed required for safe road crossing.

Conclusion

Although our stroke patients gained satisfactory levels of mobility, balance and strength following intensive rehabilitation, they have not achieved optimum speed of walking to enable effective community ambulation. Prolongation of rehabilitation programme may assist in further functional and quality of life gain among the post-stroke patients.