Article

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship among 4 clinical measures of walking
ability and the outputs of the StepWatch Activity Monitor in participants with
stroke. DESIGN: Correlational study. SETTING: Clinic and participants' usual
environments. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty participants more than 6 months after stroke
were recruited. All participants were able to walk independently, but with some
residual difficulty.
INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), Rivermead Motor Assessment (RMA), six-minute walk
test (6MWT), ten-meter walk test (10MWT), StepWatch outputs (based on daily step
counts and stepping rates). RESULTS: The correlations between the RMA and all
StepWatch outputs were low (rho=0.36-0.48; P<.05), as were most for the RMI
(rho=0.31-0.52; P<.05). The 10MWT and 6MWT had moderate to high correlations
(rho=0.51-0.73; P<.01) with most StepWatch outputs. Multiple regression showed
that the 6MWT was the only significant predictor for most StepWatch outputs,
accounting for between 38% and 54% of the variance. Age and the RMI were further
significant predictors of 1 and 2 outputs, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The 6MWT
has the strongest relationship with the StepWatch outputs and may be a better
test than the 10MWT to predict usual walking performance. However, it should be
remembered that the 6MWT explains only half the variability in usual walking
performance. Thus, activity monitoring captures aspects of walking performance
not captured by other clinical tests and should be considered as an additional
outcome measure in stroke rehabilitation.

Langue : ANGLAIS