Is this enough for your doctor and therapist to add to your stroke protocols?
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=138561&CultureCode=en
According to Study Published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience
Amsterdam, NL, January 30, 2014 – About 80% of stroke survivors
experience hemiparesis, which causes weakness or the inability to move
one side of the body. Core stabilization exercise to improve postural
stability and independent walking in chronic hemiparetic stroke patients
could be enhanced by real-time video feedback, report researchers in
Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
Stroke is the most common cause of permanent disability in adults.
Stroke patients generally show muscle weakness of limbs and trunk on the
affected side. Walking performance is often affected by muscle
weakness, spasticity, contracture, pain, sensory and visual impairments,
and postural instability. One of the main goals of stroke
rehabilitation programs is to improve posture and help patients to walk
independently and safely. Core stability exercise has been used with
success in athletes and orthopedic patients with lower back pain and has
also been reported to improve trunk stability in stroke patients, which
is essential for balance and extremity use during daily functional
activities and higher level tasks.
Researchers hypothesized that that the effects of core stabilization
exercise in stroke patients could be enhanced by augmented, or
real-time, video feedback. Augmented feedback can provide information to
patients regarding their problems while they are performing functional
activities by themselves because it contains information on the nature
or quality of the movement during performance and includes
identification of the correct and incorrect parts of the function
activities.
“The augmented reality system provided by video feedback using a
computer in a simulator is a powerful mode of augmented feedback. It is
delivered to the patient online in a computer-aided instruction program.
The system provides real-time feedback as well as a record of the
entire performance. The patient can therefore detect errors directly and
attempt to correct them on the next trial. However, there is little
research on the effect of real-time feedback on postural stability in
individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke during the core
stabilization exercises,” explains co-author Byoung-Hee Lee, PT, PhD, of
the Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Welfare, Sahmyook
University, Republic of Korea.
This study examined the feasibility of real-time feedback on postural
stability and gait performance during core stabilization exercise in 19
patients, who had been diagnosed with chronic hemiparetic stroke six
months or more before the study. Importantly, core stabilization
exercise minimizes the risks of falls and improves safety during
training, critical considerations when working with stroke patients. All
of the patients had sufficient cognitive ability to take part in the
study and could walk independently with or without a walking aid for at
least 15 minutes.
Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a
control group. Both groups met three times per week for 30 minutes over
six weeks. The participants in the experimental group were provided
real-time feedback during core stabilization exercises (bed, wedge, and
ball exercises), and those in the control group performed core
stabilization exercises without real-time feedback. Balance and gait
performance of all participants was assessed before and after the
training.
Prior to the six-week period, the control group performed better than
the experimental group, but by the end of the period both the gait
velocity (walking speed) and stride length showed significantly greater
improvement in the experimental group than in the control group. Both
groups were also trained on a timed up and go (TUG) test. After
training, TUG test improvement was significantly greater in the
experimental group compared to the control group.
Lee points out that, “Despite the small number of patients studied,
the results clearly demonstrated that real-time feedback enhanced the
results achieved through core stabilization exercise training because
patients gained a better understanding of the movements as they were
performing them. This study represents a step forward in the development
of clinical treatment programs that can contribute to recovery of
function,” he concludes.
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