Body weight-bearing while rising and sitting down in patients with stroke

Distribution of body weight on the two legs while rising and sitting down was examined in 42 subacute stroke patients and 16 healthy adults during both spontaneous movement and following instruction directed at even weight distribution. Vertical floor reaction forces were measured by two force plates. There was a difference between patients and controls in the tested motor tasks--the patients favoured their nonparetic leg. However, body weight distribution was less asymmetric when patients tried to rise and sit down evenly compared to spontaneous rising/sitting down (p less than 0.001). Patients' own estimation of distribution of body weight documented on a visual analogue scale, correlated with actual body weight distribution while rising (rs = 0.36) but not while sitting down. To motivate stroke patients to pay attention to their ability to distribute body weight evenly while rising and sitting down and to create and use adequate self-reports seems a necessary commitment in a rehabilitation programme in order to avoid the learned nonuse syndrome.