Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY
Volume 12, Issue 3, Pages 115-124Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.3109/14038196.2010.491555
Keywords
Accidental falls; activities of daily life; cerebrovascular disorders; exercise; rehabilitation
Categories
Funding
- Vardalinstitutet
- Swedish Institute for Health Sciences
- Swedish Stroke Foundation
- Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation
- Northern Swedish Stroke fund
- Spjutspetsprojekt at the County of Vasterbotten
- Medical Faculty of Umea University
- Umea University Hospital
- Erik and Anne-Marie Detlof Foundation at Umea University
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The aim of the study was to evaluate a high intensive exercise program in stroke subjects with risk of falls regarding balance, activities of daily life, falls efficacy, number of falls and lifestyle activities. The intervention program contained high intensity functional exercises (HIFE) implemented to real-life situations together with education on falls and security aspects. This was a single-center, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Consecutive >55-year-old patients with risk of falls were enrolled and randomized 3-6 months after first or recurrent stroke to the intervention group (IG, n = 15) or to the control group (CG, n = 19) who received group discussions about hidden dysfunctions after stroke. Outcomes were Berg Balance Scale (BBS) primarily, Barthel Index (BI), Falls Effi cacy Scale - International (FES-I) and number of falls secondarily and Frenchay Activities Index last 3 months (FAI-3) tertially. Assessments were done at baseline, post-intervention, 3- and 6-month follow-up by two physiotherapists and one nurse blinded to group allocation. Generalized Estimating Equations with Repeated-measure statistics were used to analyze the data. There were no significant differences between the IG and the CG regarding balance (BBS). BI at 6 months and FES-I post-intervention and 3 months follow-up showed significant improvement in the IG compared with the CG (p < 0.05). Number of falls and FAI-3 were without significant change. This study suggests that our program consisting of HIFE implemented in real-life situations together with educational discussions may improve performance of everyday life activities and improve falls efficacy in stroke subjects with risk of falls.
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