Balance and mobility outcomes for stroke patients: a comprehensive audit

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Gerontology

Background:

• Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, impacting mobility and balance.
• In-patient rehabilitation aims to restore function, but community ambulation remains a challenge for many stroke survivors.
• Assessing balance and mobility is crucial for understanding functional recovery post-stroke.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate in-patient rehabilitation outcomes for stroke patients using comprehensive balance and mobility measures.
• To compare post-rehabilitation performance with healthy older adults to identify residual deficits.
• To inform clinical practice for improving community ambulation in stroke survivors.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 109 stroke patients (mean age 72.9 years, 49.5% female) for in-patient rehabilitation.
• Administered a series of balance and mobility assessments at admission and discharge.
• Compared discharge scores with normative data from healthy older populations.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements (p<0.05) were observed in all balance and mobility measures during rehabilitation.
• 77% of patients were discharged to home, indicating positive discharge destination outcomes.
• Despite improvements, dynamic balance and mobility measures at discharge revealed significant residual deficits compared to healthy peers.
• Only 7% of patients met criteria for independent community ambulation.

Conclusions:

• While in-patient rehabilitation improves balance and mobility in stroke patients, functional deficits persist, particularly in dynamic balance.
• Current rehabilitation may not fully restore the capacity for independent community ambulation in a majority of stroke survivors.
• Clinical practice requires modification to better address residual impairments and enhance community ambulation outcomes for stroke patients.