Changes in the Affected Side Motor Function According to the Severity of Motor Paralysis in Hemiplegic Stroke Patients during Convalescent Rehabilitation / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

Objective: We analyzed changes in the affected side motor function according to the region and severity of motor paralysis in patients during convalescent rehabilitation. Methods: The subjects recruited were 1,903 hemiplegic patients with primary stroke from a supratentorial unilateral lesion, for which a full-time integrated treatment (FIT) program was implemented. We excluded patients with severe complications, those in whom the stroke recurred or its condition rapidly changed during hospitalization, and those in whom the duration from the onset to admission to our hospital was 61 days or longer. The remaining 1,634 patients served as the study subjects, from among whom we chose 917 patients who had been hospitalized for 8 weeks or longer. The affected side motor function was assessed using 5 motor items of the Stroke Impairment Assessment Set (SIAS) every 2 weeks starting from admission. Results and Conclusion: The affected side motor function significantly improved from admission to a convalescent rehabilitation ward through to week 8 in stroke patients, who were actively engaged in daily routines and had mainly walking and ADL exercise. In addition, improvement was more likely to occur for the lower-limb compared to upper-limb, as well as for the proximal compared to distal motor function. This tendency was more marked for more severe cases of paralyses.