The effect of group rehabilitation therapy on upper limb function and hand function in hemiplegic stroke patients / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effect of group rehabilitation therapy on upper limb and hand function in hemiplegic patients after stroke.Methods Sixty-four stroke survivors with hemiplegia were randomly divided into a group rehabilitation group (GG) (32 cases) and a control group (CG) (32 cases).All patients in both groups were given basic medication and conventional rehabilitation treatment.In addition,the patients in CG were given routine upper limb function training,while the patients in GG were provided with the group rehabilitation therapy.Before and after eight weeks of training,the upper limb function and hand function of both groups were measured using the up-per-extremity portion of the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment (FMA-UE) and upper extremities functional test (UEFT).Abilities of daily living were measured using the modified Barthel index (MBI).Anxiety and depression were evaluated using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS).Results Before intervention there was no significant difference between the two groups in any of the assessments (P ＞ 0.05).At the end of training,all measurements in both groups were significantly better than those before training (P ＜ 0.05),and the UEFT,MBI,SAS and SDS scores were significantly better in GG than in the CG (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The group rehabilitation therapy,in addition to routine training,can improve the upper extremity function,hand function and abilities of daily living,and alleviate anxiety and depression in patients with post-stroke hemiplegia.