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Community ambulation after stroke: how important and obtainable is it an what measures appear predictive?

Community ambulation after stroke: how important and obtainable is it an what measures appear predictive?
Community ambulation after stroke: how important and obtainable is it an what measures appear predictive?
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.
community, stroke
0003-9993
234 - 239
Lord, Susan E.
88e1237e-9a6c-4152-9837-d58a651bce1f
McPherson, Kathryn
dc901431-2119-42df-9400-852e4cb46d75
McNaughton, Harry K.
bc7770ae-1ba1-463d-8076-b0ee9d208236
Rochester, Lynn
ab1451e1-569c-43cd-ad84-987befff3f16
Weatherall, Mark
2d0d0abb-6a13-48fc-9e59-34b801b55ce1
Lord, Susan E.
88e1237e-9a6c-4152-9837-d58a651bce1f
McPherson, Kathryn
dc901431-2119-42df-9400-852e4cb46d75
McNaughton, Harry K.
bc7770ae-1ba1-463d-8076-b0ee9d208236
Rochester, Lynn
ab1451e1-569c-43cd-ad84-987befff3f16
Weatherall, Mark
2d0d0abb-6a13-48fc-9e59-34b801b55ce1

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).

Record type: Article

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.

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More information

Published date: February 2004
Keywords: community, stroke

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 17958
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/17958
ISSN: 0003-9993
PURE UUID: 4cce009a-ca11-4205-bd99-f3d48312b7bd

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Date deposited: 23 Nov 2005
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:02

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Contributors

Author: Susan E. Lord
Author: Kathryn McPherson
Author: Harry K. McNaughton
Author: Lynn Rochester
Author: Mark Weatherall

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