Influence of daily activity on changes in physical fitness for people with post-stroke hemiplegia

To investigate the influence of daily activity on changes in the physical fitness of people with post-stroke (cerebrovascular disorders) hemiplegia, we evaluated the follow-up exercise load test of 30 ambulatory male patients with post-stroke hemiplegia. Between the times of the two tests, patients had no special supervised training. They were advised by their physicians to exercise according to the result of an exercise-loading test. We determined peak oxygen uptake and O2 consumption at the ventilatory threshold point. After 9.4 months, the mean peak oxygen uptake improved significantly from 17.7 to 21.1 ml/min/kg, and ventilatory threshold point also improved significantly from 11.4 to 13.6 ml/min/kg. Among the nine subjects who returned to their jobs, subjects who previously went to their offices by public transportation showed more improvement in ventilatory threshold point level than did subjects who previously walked to their offices. Among the 21 subjects who did not return to work, those who exercised regularly (primarily by walking) showed more improvement of peak oxygen uptake level than did subjects who did not exercise regularly. In conclusion, people with hemiplegia who are living in the community can improve their physical fitness without formal supervised training by simply increasing their daily activities.