The Effects of Weight-Bearing Exercise on Upper Extremity Activities Performance in the Female Stroke Patients

Abstract

The purpose in the present study was to examine the effects of weight-bearing exercises on stroke patients' ability to perform upper extremity activities. Experiments were conducted with 24 female stroke patients who were randomly assigned to either a control group (CG) that performed general exercise or an experimental group that performed weight-bearing exercise (WBG). The experiments were conducted for 30 minutes per time, three times per week for six weeks. The upper extremity functions, grasping power, and the ability to manipulate the fingers were measured for both groups before the experiments and again six weeks after the beginning of the experiments. Although the scores for upper extremity functions relating to raising the arms that correspond to proximal upper extremity functions increased in both groups, the WBG showed more significant improvement. The WBG showed significant changes in grasping power compared to the CG. Based on these results, weight-bearing exercise can be effective in improving the ability to perform upper extremity movements and grasping power and thus can be used in stroke rehabilitation.

Topical Anesthesia versus Hand Weight Bearing on Modulating Upper Limb Spasticity in Hemiplegic Children

“…Weight bearing exercises stimulate mechanoreceptors within the joint surface, which is effective for joint stability. 10 The aim of this study was to compare between the effect of topical anesthesia and hand weight bearing on controlling upper limb spasticity in children with hemiplegia.…”