ANGULAR BIOFEEDBACK DEVICE FOR SITTING BALANCE OF STROKE PATIENTS

Background and Purpose Impaired sitting balance is an important and ti me-consuming complication for stroke patients. We examined the effect of the use of an angular biofeedback device in addition to physical th erapy in training stroke patients with impaired sitting balance compar ed with outcome in patients receiving conventional physical therapy on ly. Methods The biofeedback group consisted of 24 patients who receive d angular biofeedback training in addition to conventional physical th erapy. The number of biofeedback signals and the lengths of time a pat ient could sit balanced throughout a period of 5 minutes before the tr aining program, after 10 days of treatment, and at discharge were reco rded and compared with those of the control group of 13 patients who r eceived conventional physical therapy only. Results It was found that 75% of the biofeedback group gained sitting balance after 10 days of t reatment in comparison with 15.4% of the control group (P<.001). At di scharge, 91.6% of the biofeedback group and 84.6% of the control group gained sitting balance (P=.510), and 45.8% of the biofeedback group a nd 46.2% of the control group managed in dependent ambulation (P=.985) . The mean rehabilitation periods among the ambulatory patients of the biofeedback and control groups were 9.45+/-0.71 and 13.83+/-1.70 week s, respectively (P=.049). The mean training time in which the biofeedb ack group gained sitting balance was significantly shorter than that o f the control group (P<.001). Conclusions Angular biofeedback interven tion, by providing earlier postural trunk control, is a useful adjunct to conventional physical therapy in the rehabilitation of stroke pati ents with impaired sitting balance.