Evaluation of Performance Based Impairment of Stroke Patients

Abstract

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of physical dysfunction. It is imperative to identify the current level of physical activities of stroke patients to plan for effective rehabilitation strategies. Aim of the study was to evaluate the severity of performance impairment of stroke patients using Fugl-Meyer Assessment and Total motor score. Methods: Thirty-seven stroke patients were selected. The performance impairment was evaluated by FMA motor score. Both upper limb (UL) and lower limb (LL) motor function was evaluated. The maximum UL score was 66 and LL score was 34. The relationship of age and duration of condition with FMA motor score was studied by Pearson’s correlation coefficients. The difference in the gender and type of stroke with the FMA motor score was analysed by MannWhitney ‘U’ test. Result: The mean FMA total score was 43.81 ± 7.12. The relationship between age and total motor score was not significant with, r = 0.004, p = 0.980. There was no significant relationship between duration of the condition and motor recovery, r = 0.46, p = 0.304 > 0.05. The difference in the gender (z = 0.55, p = 0.579) and type of stroke (z = 0.06, p = 0.956) was not significant with the total motor score. Conclusion: It is concluded that stroke patients have severe performance impairment evaluated by FMA and Total motor score. Motor recovery was not dependent on the age and gender of patients