MAXIMUM VOLUNTARY WEIGHT-BEARING BY THE AFFECTED AND UNAFFECTED LEGS IN STANDING FOLLOWING STROKE

Objective. To compare stroke patients to control subjects for ability to transfer body weight onto the affected and unaffected leg in standi ng; to investigate intra-session reliability. Design. Comparative clin ical study conducted within a single session. Background. There is a p aucity of quantitative data about maximum voluntary weightbearing in p atients during rehabilitation following stroke. Methods. A Kistler for ce platform was used to quantify maximum amount of body weight transfe rred to a single limb in the lateral and forward directions during wei ght-shifting, Twelve control subjects matched by gender and age (media n 64 years) were compared to 12 inpatient stroke patients after a medi an of 37 days post-onset. Results. The median score for control subjec ts was approximately 95% of body weight to each leg in both directions . In contrast, stroke patients transferred less body weight (P<0.01) t o the affected leg (65.5% lateral; 54.9% forward) and also to the unaf fected leg (85.0% lateral; 80.1% forward). For the stroke patients, tr ansfer of body weight was more challenging in the forward direction th an the lateral direction on the affected leg (P<0.05). Relative to ind ividual differences in the stroke group, error due to the repeated mea surement process was low. Conclusion. The testing procedure was found to discriminate between stroke patients and control patients and had h igh retest reliability within a single session.