The effect of fluidotherapy on hand dexterity and activities of daily living in patients with edema on stroke.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of fluidotherapy on hand's dexterity and activities of daily living for stroke patients with upper limb edema. [Subjects and Methods] The objective of the present study was to treat 30 stroke patients with a three-week course of fluidotherapy to investigate the efficacy of such therapy for reduction of edema. For accurate baseline and post-intervention assessment of edema volume, hand edema was measured in the morning using a forearm volumeter. [Results] Mean edematous volume in the affected side measured 600.53 ± 29.94 ml prior to intervention, significantly decreasing to 533.53 ± 27.85 ml after three weeks of fluidotherapy. To investigate how such reduction may have enhanced the ability to perform activities of daily living, Korean Version of Modified Barthel Index assessment was performed. The results showed 46.10 ± 4.27 points at baseline and significantly improved to a mean score of 49.96 ± 4.34 points at the time of reassessment. Furthermore, Box and Block Test was performed to investigate hand dexterity. Before fluidotherapy, affected patients transferred 21.13 ± 3.63 blocks in one minute, increasing to 23.20 ± 3.42 blocks transferred in one minute following three weeks of treatment. Although the number of blocks transferred did increase slightly, the difference was not statistically significant. [Conclusion] These findings suggest that using fluidotherapy can reduce edema, and such a reduction can have a positive effect on activities of daily living. Based on our current findings, we hypothesize that long-term fluidotherapy treatment may be more effective in reducing edema.