LSVT BIG in late stroke rehabilitation: A single-case experimental design study

Area of Science:

• Neurorehabilitation
• Occupational Therapy
• Motor Recovery

Background:

• Late stroke rehabilitation interventions frequently focus on impairment reduction, with limited success in translating these gains to everyday functional activities.
• There is a need for effective interventions that promote meaningful occupational performance in individuals with chronic stroke.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of the LSVT BIG program in enhancing client-identified occupational performance and reducing impairments in individuals with chronic stroke.
• To explore the potential of LSVT BIG as a late-stage stroke rehabilitation intervention.

Main Methods:

• A single-case experimental design with one repetition was employed.
• Two adult participants with chronic stroke (3 and 12 years post-stroke) participated.
• Intervention was applied to half of client-selected occupational goals, with repeated measures using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and the Rating of Everyday Arm-Use in the Community and Home.

Main Results:

• Occupational performance demonstrated improvement in most trained and untrained activities, as assessed by self-report and blinded raters.
• One participant showed improvement in all assessed activities, while the other showed improvement in all but one.

Conclusions:

• The LSVT BIG program presents a promising approach for improving occupational performance in individuals with chronic stroke.
• Further research is warranted to identify the specific components of LSVT BIG that are most critical for enhancing occupational performance and to optimize its application in stroke rehabilitation.