Attentional demands for static postural control after stroke

• Published in: Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation Vol. 83; no. 12; pp. 1732 - 1735
• Main Authors: Brown, Lesley A., Sleik, Ryan J., Winder, Toni R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.12.2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: Accidental falls; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cerebrovascular accident; Diseases of the nervous system; Equilibrium; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Postural Balance; Posture; Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects); Reaction Time; Rehabilitation; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke Rehabilitation; Attention; Cerebrovascular accident; Reaction time; Rehabilitation; Accidental falls; Equilibrium; Posture; Human; Evaluation; Nervous system diseases; Stroke; Motor system disorder; Cardiovascular disease; Cerebral disorder; Vascular disease; Treatment; Central nervous system disease; Complication; Hemiplegia; Neurological disorder; Postural fitting; Elderly; Cerebrovascular disease
• DOI: 10.1053/apmr.2002.36400
• ISSN: 0003-9993

Brown LA, Sleik RJ, Winder TR. Attentional demands for static postural control after stroke. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002;83:1732-5. Objective: To assess the attentional demands associated with postural control among people who have had a stroke. Design: Nonrandomized matched case-control study. Setting: University research laboratory in Canada. Participants: Six individuals who had suffered a left or right cerebral ischemic attack in the past year and a sample of 6 age- and gender-matched controls. Participants in the stroke group had a mean age of 64.17±13.14 years; control participants had a mean age of 64.00±13.91 years. Mean National Institute of Health Stroke Scale scores for these patients were 7.67±4.92 at the time of stroke and 1.66±1.36 at the time of testing. None of the patients were taking medications that would alter cognitive status or balance abilities. Intervention: Participants performed a verbal reaction-time test while engaged in 3 postural tasks (sitting, standing, standing with feet together). Main Outcome Measure: Reaction time: latency between visual stimulus and verbal response. Results: Reaction times in the stroke group differed significantly in all conditions from the controls (410±72ms vs 320±54ms, P<.01). A significant interaction was found between group and postural task (P=.05), with reaction-time scores showing a progressive increase in postural task difficulty among participants who had suffered a stroke. Post hoc comparisons revealed that sitting reaction-time scores were significantly slower than reaction-time scores for feet together standing (P=.008) among participants in the stroke group. Conclusion: Individuals who have suffered a stroke showed increased attentional demands for tasks of static postural control compared with healthy, age-matched participants. © 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation