Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE).
NeuroRehabilitation. 2014;34(2):267-76. doi: 10.3233/NRE-131035.
Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability, with walking impairment being a devastating indicator of chronic post-stroke hemiparesis. Limited resources exist for individual treatments; therefore, the delivery of safe group exercise therapy is highly desired.
To examine whether the application of group-based motor imagery practice to community-dwelling individuals with chronic hemiparesis improves gait.
Sixteen individuals with chronic hemiparesis from two community centers participated in the study, with eight from each center. Four participants in each center received five weeks of the experimental intervention, consisting of group-based motor imagery exercises of gait tasks, followed by five weeks of control treatment of motor imagery exercises for the affected upper extremity. Four other subjects in each center received the same treatments in reverse order. Pre- and post intervention measurements included clinical and biomechanical gait parameters.
Comparisons within (pre- vs. post) and between treatments (experimental vs. control) indicated no significant change in any gait variable. Nevertheless, the verbal reports of most participants alluded to satisfaction with the experimental intervention and to an increase in self-confidence.
Despite the lack of evidence for the effectiveness of group-based motor imagery practice in improving gait among individuals with chronic hemiparesis, the contrast between the measured outcomes and the positive verbal reports merits further inquiry.
中风是导致成年人残疾的主要原因，步行障碍是慢性中风后偏瘫的毁灭性指标。针对个体的治疗方法有限；因此，非常需要提供安全的团体运动疗法。
研究基于团体的运动意象练习应用于社区居住的慢性偏瘫患者是否能改善步态。
来自两个社区中心的 16 名慢性偏瘫患者参加了这项研究，每个中心 8 名。每个中心的 4 名参与者接受了为期五周的实验干预，包括基于团体的步态任务运动意象练习，随后进行五周的受影响上肢的运动意象练习对照治疗。每个中心的另外 4 名受试者以相反的顺序接受相同的治疗。干预前后的测量包括临床和生物力学步态参数。
在（干预前与干预后）和治疗之间（实验组与对照组）的比较中，没有任何步态变量发生显著变化。然而，大多数参与者的口头报告都暗示对实验干预的满意，并增加了自信。
尽管没有证据表明基于团体的运动意象练习在改善慢性偏瘫患者的步态方面有效，但测量结果与积极的口头报告之间的差异值得进一步研究。
