Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the longer-term effects of electromechanical gait trainers (GTs) combined
with conventional physiotherapy on health status, function, and ambulation in people
with subacute stroke in comparison with conventional physiotherapy given alone.
Design
Randomized controlled trial with intention-to-treat analysis.
Setting
Community hospital in Singapore.
Participants
Nonambulant individuals (N=106) recruited approximately 1 month poststroke.
Interventions
Both groups received 45 minutes of physiotherapy 6 times per week for 8 weeks as follows:
the GT group received 20 minutes of GT training and 5 minutes of stance/gait training
in contrast with 25 minutes of stance/gait training for the control group. Both groups
completed 10 minutes of standing and 10 minutes of cycling.
Main Outcome Measures
The primary outcome was the Functional Ambulation Category (FAC). Secondary outcomes
were the Barthel Index (BI), gait speed and endurance, and Stroke Impact Scale (SIS).
Measures were taken at baseline and 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48 weeks.
Results
Generalized linear model analysis showed significant improvement over time (independent
of group) for the FAC, BI, and SIS physical and participation subscales. However,
no significant group × time or group differences were observed for any of the outcome
variables after generalized linear model analysis.
Conclusions
The use of GTs combined with conventional physiotherapy can be as effective as conventional
physiotherapy applied alone for people with subacute stroke.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
BI (Barthel Index), FAC (Functional Ambulation Category), GT (gait trainer), SIS (Stroke Impact Scale)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 20, 2016
Footnotes
Current affiliation for Culpan, School of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK.
Supported by St Andrew's Community Hospital.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
