Circuit-based rehabilitation improves gait endurance but not usual walking activity in chronic stroke: a randomised clinical trial

Date
2009
Authors
Mudge, S
Barber, PA
Scott, NS
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract

Objective To determine whether circuit-based rehabilitation would increase the amount and rate that individuals with stroke walk in their usual environments.

Design Single-blind randomized controlled trial.

Setting Rehabilitation clinic.

Participants Sixty participants with a residual gait deficit at least 6 months after stroke originally enrolled in the study. Two withdrew in the initial phase, leaving 58 participants (median age, 71.5y; range, 39.0–89.0y) who were randomized to the 2 intervention groups.

Interventions The exercise group had 12 sessions of clinic-based rehabilitation delivered in a circuit class designed to improve walking. The control group received a comparable duration of group social and educational classes.

Main Outcome Measures Usual walking performance was assessed using the StepWatch Activity Monitor. Clinical tests were gait speed (timed 10-meter walk) and endurance (six-minute walk test [6MWT]), confidence (Activities-Based Confidence Scale), self-reported mobility (Rivermead Mobility Index [RMI]), and self-reported physical activity (Physical Activity and Disability Scale).

Results Intention-to-treat analysis revealed that the exercise group showed a significantly greater distance for the 6MWT than the control group immediately after the intervention (P=.030) but that this effect was not retained 3 months later. There were no changes in the StepWatch measures of usual walking performance for either group. The exercise and control groups had significantly different gait speed (P=.038) and scores on the RMI (P=.025) at the 3-month follow-up. These differences represented a greater decline in the control group compared with the exercise group for both outcome measures.

Conclusions Circuit-based rehabilitation leads to improvements in gait endurance but does not change the amount or rate of walking performance in usual environments. Clinical gains made by the exercise group were lost 3 months later. Future studies should consider whether rehabilitation needs to occur in usual environments to improve walking performance.

Description
Keywords
Rehabilitation , Stroke , Walking
Source
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol.90(12), pp.1989 - 1996
Publisher's version
Rights statement
Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in (see Citation). Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version was published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version).