Evaluation of Motor Recovery and Physical Performance Gain in Patients with Stroke Treated with Inpatient Rehabilitation

Objective: This study was performed to determine the physical performance and motor gain and to investigate the factors affecting motor gain in patients with stroke on inpatient rehabilitation program. Material and Methods: Forty-three patients (female/male: 26/17) with stroke were included. All patients were given a convenient rehabilitation program. All patients were assessed by the Brunnstrom motor staging, functional ambulation scale (FAS), motor and total scores of Fugl Meyer Assessment Scale (FMAS) and Functional independence measurement (FIM) score at admission and discharge. Physical performance was considered the FMAS total score and consisted of upper and lower extremity total motor score and overall scores of balance, sensation, range of motion and pain. Results: The proportion of patients with ischemic etiology was 91.4%. The duration of stroke was 64.9 +/- 66.8 days and length of stay in hospital was 19.9 +/- 6.7 days. The motor and total FMAS scores of patients were 41.9 +/- 21.9 and 149.8 +/- 26.2 at admission and 55.3 +/- 23.6 and 169.7 +/- 27.8 at discharge. The motor gain was 41.2% (p=0.0001) and physical performance gain was 14% (p=0.0001). In multiple lineer regression analysis, the best predictor of motor gain was FMAS motor score at admission (r(2)=0.321, beta=-0.849, p=0.0001). Conclusion: The effect of inpatient rehabilitation program was strong on the motor gain in patients with acute stroke, whereas weakly effective on physical performance recovery. We suggest to also consider the other parameters affecting physical performance (balance, sensation, range of motion, pain) while planning rehabilitation programs.