This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Howe, T E Articles by Jones, H Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Howe, T E Articles by Jones, H Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Lateral weight transference exercises following acute stroke: a preliminary study of clinical effectiveness

Postgraduate Institute, School of Health and Social Care and Teesside Centre for Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Teesside, The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK

I Taylor

School of Health and Social Care, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough and WestMARC, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, UK

P Finn

School of Health and Social Care, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK

H Jones

Stroke Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy Department and Neurosciences, The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK

Objectives: To evaluate a training programme aimed at improving lateral weight transference in patients following acute stroke to determine main treatment effects, if any, to inform the design of future studies.

Design: A single-blind randomized controlled trial.

Setting: The Stroke Unit at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK.

Subjects: Thirty-five patients with an acute stroke.

Interventions: All subjects received their usual care, including physiotherapy. The treatment group (n / 17) received 12 additional therapy sessions (over four weeks) comprising exercises aimed at improving lateral weight transference in sitting delivered by trained physiotherapy assistants.

Main outcome measures: Measures of dynamic reaching, sitting and standing, and static standing balance were undertaken by a blind independent observer.

Results: Specific measures of weight displacement in standing and reaching, and timed standing up and sitting down did not detect any differences over time regardless of group. Neither were there any significant changes over time, except for sway during static standing (p B=0.01) and time to return to their original position during dynamic reaching (p / 0.01).

Conclusions: A training programme aimed at improving lateral weight transference did not appear to enhance the rehabilitation of acute stroke patients. Improvements observed in postural control in standing and sitting may be attributable to usual care or natural recovery.

Clinical Rehabilitation, Vol. 19, No. 1, 45-53 (2005)
DOI: 10.1191/0269215505cr786oa


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Pollock, G. Baer, P. Langhorne, and V. Pomeroy Physiotherapy treatment approaches for the recovery of postural control and lower limb function following stroke: a systematic review Clinical Rehabilitation, May 1, 2007; 21(5): 395 - 410. [Abstract] [PDF]