Deans' stroke musings: “A Backward Walking Training Program to Improve Balance and Mobility in Acute Stroke: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial”

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.

Monday, October 23, 2017

“A Backward Walking Training Program to Improve Balance and Mobility in Acute Stroke: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial”

Other research already out there: I bet your doctor and stroke hospital are totally incompetent in not having this intervention already being used. My god, 11 and 12 years ago this research came out, bet your doctor doesn't even know about it.

Gait outcomes after additional backward walking training in patients with stroke: a randomized controlled trial - May 2005

Effectiveness of backward walking treadmill training in lower extremity function after stroke - Oct. 2006

The latest here:

“A Backward Walking Training Program to Improve Balance and Mobility in Acute Stroke: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial”

The following article has just been accepted for publication in Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy:
“A Backward Walking Training Program to Improve Balance and Mobility in Acute Stroke: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial”
By
Dorian Rose, PT, PhD; Lou DeMark, DPT, NCS; Emily Fox, PT, DPT, PhD, NCS; David Clark, ScD; Peter Wludyka, PhD
Provisional Abstract:
Background and Purpose: Strategies to address gait and balance deficits early post-stroke are minimal. The postural and motor control requirements of Backward Walking Training (BWT) may provide benefits to improve balance and walking speed in this population. This pilot study: 1) determined the feasibility of administering BWT during inpatient rehabilitation and 2) compared the effectiveness of BWT to Standard Balance Training (SBT) on walking speed, balance and balance-related efficacy in acute stroke.
Methods: Eighteen individuals 1-week post-stroke were randomized to eight, 30-minute sessions of BWT or SBT in addition to scheduled therapy. Five-meter walk test (5MWT), 3-meter backward walk test (3MBWT), Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and Function Independence Measure – Mobility (FIM-M) were assessed pre- and post-intervention and at 3 months post-stroke.
Results: Forward gait speed change (BWT: 0.75 m/s; SBT: 0.41 m/s), assessed by the 5MWT and backward gait speed change (BWT: 0.53 m/s; SBT: 0.23 m/s), assessed by the 3MBWT pre-intervention to 1-month retention were greater for BWT than SBT (p < 0.05). Group difference effect size from pre-intervention to 1-month retention was large for ABC Scale, moderate for BBS and FIM-M and small for SOT.
Discussion and Conclusions: Individuals 1-week post-stroke tolerated 30 minutes/day of additional therapy. At 1-month post-intervention, BWT resulted in greater improvements in both forward and backward walking speed compared to SBT. BWT is a feasible important addition to acute-stroke rehabilitation. Future areas of inquiry should examine BWT as a preventative modality for future fall incidence.
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