Community ambulation after stroke: how important and obtainable is it an what measures appear predictive?
Lord, Susan E., McPherson, Kathryn, McNaughton, Harry K., Rochester, Lynn and Weatherall, Mark (2004) Community ambulation after stroke: how important and obtainable is it an what measures appear predictive? Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 85, (2), 234 - 239. (doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2003.05.002).
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Description/Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To assess how important community ambulation is to stroke survivors and to assess the relation between the level of community ambulation achieved and other aspects of mobility.
DESIGN: A multicenter observational survey.
SETTING: Community setting in New Zealand.
PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fifteen stroke survivors living at home were referred from physical therapy (PT) services at 3 regional hospitals at the time of discharge and were assessed within 1 week after returning home. Another 15 people with stroke who did not require further PT when discharged were assessed within 2 weeks after they returned home to provide insight into community ambulation status for those without mobility impairment, as recognized by health professionals.
INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported levels of community ambulation ascertained by questionnaire, gait velocity (m/min), Functional Ambulation Categories (FAC) score, and Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) score.
RESULTS: Mean gait velocity for the participants was 53.9 m/min (95% confidence interval [CI], 52.3-61.1) mean treadmill distance was 165.5 m (95% CI, 141.6-189.5); median RMI score was 14; and median FAC score was 6. Mobility scores for the 15 people who did not require PT were within the normal range. Based on self-reported levels of ambulation, 19 (14.6%) participants were unable to leave the home unsupervised, 22 (16.9%) were walking as far as the letterbox, 10 (7.6%) were limited to walking within their immediate environment, and 79 (60.7%) could access shopping malls and/or places of interest. Participants with different levels of community ambulation showed a significant difference in gait velocity (P<.001). The ability to "get out and about" in the community was considered to be either essential or very important by 97 subjects (74.6%).
CONCLUSIONS: Community ambulation is a meaningful outcome after stroke. However, despite good mobility outcomes on standardized measures for this cohort of home-dwelling stroke survivors, nearly one third were not getting out unsupervised in the community. Furthermore, gait velocity may be a measure that discriminates between different categories of community ambulation. These findings may have implications for PT practice for people with mobility problems after stroke.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| ISSNs: | 0003-9993 (print) |
| Related URLs: | |
| Keywords: | community, stroke |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology |
| Divisions: | University Structure - Pre August 2011 > Superseded (SOHPRS) |
| Item ID: | 17958 |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Nov 2005 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Apr 2013 10:19 |
| Contributors: | Lord, Susan E. (Author) McPherson, Kathryn (Author) McNaughton, Harry K. (Author) Rochester, Lynn (Author) Weatherall, Mark (Author) |
| Date: | February 2004 |
| Status: | Published |
| URI: | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/17958 |
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