Functional Outcomes of Stroke Survivors after Physiotherapy Rehabilitation Program at a Tertiary University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda.

BACKGROUND

After suffering from a stroke, serious long-term disability occurs and physiotherapy is one part of rehabilitation for stroke survivors that plays a significant role in improving functional recovery, mobility and has positive impact on outcome.

OBJECTIVE

To identify functioning outcomes of stroke survivors after physiotherapy rehabilitation.

METHODOLOGY

By using both retrospective and cross-sectional study designs, 71 stroke cases were identified, and a Modified Barthel Index (MBI) was applied to score functioning outcomes. Data were managed and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 21.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA).

RESULTS

The findings showed that patients who received physiotherapy rehabilitation improved in activities of daily living (ADL). This was demonstrated by changes in the total MBI that were 0.72 ± 1.59 on admission and 15.3 ±4.89 on current status (after physiotherapy rehabilitation). However, some failed to achieve expected outcomes even though they received physiotherapy rehabilitation. This could be attributed to delayed onset, frequency and duration of rehabilitation.

CONCLUSION

Stroke survivors after physiotherapy rehabilitation showed improvement in activities of daily living. Hypertension has been identified as the most influencing risk factor of stroke. Financial constraints were also identified for those who struggle to achieve the highest outcomes due to poor attendance at physiotherapy rehabilitation. Appropriate management of hypertension is necessary to reduce stroke; and facilitation of those under rehabilitation will improve their participation in the rehabilitation for better outcome.