Recovery of Quiet Standing Balance and Lower Limb Motor Impairment Early Poststroke: How Are They Related?

 You described something but gave us NO PROTOCOLS  on how to recover quiet standing balance. USELESS, YOU'RE FIRED! Your mentors and senior researchers need to get out of stroke and find something more to their abilities.

Recovery of Quiet Standing Balance and Lower Limb Motor Impairment Early Poststroke: How Are They Related?

Jonas Schröder, MSc https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0290-9923 jonas.schroder@uantwerpen.be, Wim Saeys, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8193-5016, […], and Gert Kwakkel, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4041-4043+4View all authors and affiliations

Volume 37, Issue 8

https://doi.org/10.1177/15459683231186983

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Abstract

Background

Recovery of quiet standing balance early poststroke has been poorly investigated using repeated measurements.

Objective

To investigate (1) the time course of steady-state balance in terms of postural stability and inter-limb symmetry, and (2) longitudinal associations with lower limb motor recovery in the first 3 months poststroke.

Methods

Forty-eight hemiparetic subjects (age: 58.9 ± 16.1 years) were evaluated at weeks 3, 5, 8, and 12 poststroke. Motor impairments concerned the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FM-LE) and Motricity Index total score (MI-LE) or ankle item separately (MI-ankle). Postural stability during quiet 2-legged stance was calculated as the net center-of-pressure area (COP_Area) and direction-dependent velocities (COP_Vel-ML and COP_Vel-AP). Dynamic control asymmetry (DCA) and weight-bearing asymmetry (WBA) estimated inter-limb symmetries in balance control and loading. Linear mixed models determined (1) time-dependent change and (2) the between- and within-subject associations between motor impairments and postural stability or inter-limb symmetry.

Results

Time-dependent improvements were significant for FM-LE, MI-LE, MI-ankle, COP_Area, COP_Vel-ML, and COP_Vel-AP, and tended to plateau by week 8. DCA and WBA did not exhibit significant change. Between-subject analyses yielded significant regression coefficients for FM-LE, MI-LE, and MI-ankle scores with COP_Area, COP_Vel-ML, and COP_Vel-AP up until week 8, and with WBA until week 12. Within-subject regression coefficients of motor recovery with change in COP_Area, COP_Vel-ML, COP_Vel-AP, DCA, or WBA were generally non-significant.

Conclusions

Postural stability improved significantly in the first 8 weeks poststroke, independent of lower limb motor recovery at the most affected side within subjects. Our findings suggest that subjects preferred to compensate with their less affected side, making metrics reflecting inter-limb asymmetries in balance invariant for change early poststroke.

Clinical Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov. unique identifier NCT03728036.

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