Effective physical therapy activities to improve the supine-to-seated transfer time in stroke patients: an observational pilot study

Abstract

[Purpose] This study aimed to examine the effective time allocation for physical therapy activities in patients with stroke. The primary outcome measure was the improvement in the time required to transition from the supine to the sitting position. [Participants and Methods] This study enrolled 19 inpatients with stroke. The activities performed during physical therapy were classified as nontherapeutic activities, minimal therapeutic activities, moderate therapeutic activities, high therapeutic activities, and other activities. We determined the relationship between the activities and the relative shortening ratio of the time required to sit up from the supine position for up to 13 weeks of physical therapy. We also considered the following background factors: patient information, functional independence measure, and Brunnstrom recovery stage. [Results] The Brunnstrom recovery stage for the lower extremity was identified as the confounding factor, and the participants were stratified into the Brunnstrom recovery stage 6 group, in which moderate therapeutic activities and other activities were significantly related to the relative shortening ratio. [Conclusion] The results suggested that other activities exerted a similar effect as moderate therapeutic activities in the Brunnstrom recovery stage 6 group and were more effective than high therapeutic activities in reducing the time required to sit up from the supine position.