CHAMPAIGN,
Ill. — Researchers used accelerometers to measure daily physical
activity in 30 stroke survivors for a week, assessing how much the
participants moved and how well they performed routine physical tasks.
The study revealed that stroke survivors who engaged in a lot of light
physical activity – taking leisurely walks or attending to nonstrenuous
household chores, for example – also reported fewer physical limitations
than their more sedentary peers.
The researchers describe their findings in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
“Stroke is a major cause of disability in older adults,” said
Neha Gothe, a professor of
kinesiology and community health
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who led the research.
“We know that physical activity can improve how well people survive a
stroke and recover after the fact. But almost no research has looked at
how physical activity of different intensities affects physical function
among stroke survivors.”
Gothe and her research team used two measures of physical ability –
the Short Physical Performance Battery, which measures balance, walking
speed and lower-limb endurance, and the Late-Life Function and
Disability Instrument, which asks participants to report how difficult
it is for them to perform daily tasks such as getting in and out of a
car or pouring water from a heavy pitcher.
The researchers discovered that, on average, the stroke survivors
logged only about seven minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per
day.
“In contrast, they averaged more than three hours of light physical
activity each day,” Gothe said. “This includes things like walking at a
leisurely pace, housekeeping, light gardening or other activities that
do not cause a person to break a sweat.”
The amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was the best
predictor of participants’ performance on objective measures of physical
function, the researchers found. But a person’s self-reported ability
to perform daily tasks was much more closely associated with the amount
of time they engaged in light physical activity.
“Our findings are preliminary but suggest that – in addition to
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity – those daily routines that keep
us on our feet and physically engaged in lighter tasks also contribute
to better physical functioning in stroke survivors. This aligns with the
latest Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans that emphasize the
need to move more and sit less,” Gothe said. “Engaging in light physical
activity can be healthy and beneficial, especially for those with
chronic health conditions such as stroke.”
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