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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Author Spotlight: Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients With a Digital Occupational Training System
Published on: December 29, 2023
Time to recovery from lateropulsion dependent on key stroke deficits: a retrospective analysis
Suzanne R Babyar1, Margaret G E Peterson2, Michael Reding3
1Hunter College, New York, NY, USA Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, White Plains, NY, USA sbabyar@burke.org.
Background:
Lateropulsion, a postural control disorder, delays recovery following hemispheric stroke. The number of stroke impairments may lead to differential recovery rates, depending on the intact systems available for recovery from lateropulsion.
Objective:
To study the impact of key postural control deficits on lateropulsion rate of recovery following stroke.
Methods:
Through retrospective analysis: 169 patients with hemispheric stroke in an in-patient rehabilitation facility were divided into 3 groups: (1) motor deficits only; (2) motor and hemianopic or visual-spatial deficits or motor and proprioceptive deficits; and (3) motor, proprioceptive, and hemianopic or visual-spatial deficits. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis determined if time to recovery from lateropulsion (achieving a score of 0 or 1 on the Burke Lateropulsion Scale) differed by group.
Results:
Log rank tests showed that time to recovery from lateropulsion differed based on the number of deficits (group, P = .012). Post hoc analyses by lesion side showed that group differences only occurred in right brain lesion (P < .05) as compared with left brain lesions (P = .34). Patients recovered from lateropulsion during in-patient rehabilitation if they had only motor deficits; those with all 3 postural control deficits showed the most protracted recovery.
Conclusions:
Rate of recovery from lateropulsion after stroke is dependent on the side of lesion, and number of key motor, proprioceptive, and/or hemianopic or visual-spatial deficits. The more postural control systems affected, the slower the recovery. Our data identify patients likely to need protracted rehabilitation targeting key postural control deficits.
