Article

Promoting whole body activities, such as walking, can help improve
recovery after stroke. However, little information exists regarding the
characteristics of daily walking in patients enrolled in rehabilitation
poststroke. The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine the quantity of
walking and duration of individual bouts of walking during an inpatient day, (2)
compare standard laboratory symmetry measures with measures of symmetry captured
throughout the day, and (3) investigate the association between quantity of
walking and indices of stroke severity. METHODS: The study examined ambulatory
activity among 16 inpatients with subacute stroke who were bilaterally
instrumented with a wireless accelerometer above the ankle for approximately 8
continuous hours. RESULTS: On average, patients demonstrated 47.5 minutes
(standard deviation [SD] = 26.6 minutes) of total walking activity and walking
bout durations of 54.4 s (SD = 21.5 s). A statistically significant association
was found between the number of walking bouts to total walking time (r = .76; P =
.006) and laboratory gait speed (r = .51; P = .045) and between laboratory gait
speed and balance impairment (r = .60; P = .013). Also, a significant increase in
gait asymmetry was observed during day-long measurement compared with the
standard laboratory-based assessment (P = .006). CONCLUSIONS: Rather modest
amounts of daily walking were found for these ambulatory inpatients, consistent
with previous reports about patients after stroke. Bouts of walking were short in
duration, and the gait was more asymmetrical, compared with a standard gait
assessment. Unobtrusive monitoring of daily walking exposes the characteristics
and temporal qualities of poststroke ambulation.

Langue : ANGLAIS