Effectiveness of a community based programme of physiotherapy on stability, balance and function of stroke patients

This study assessed the effectiveness of a community based programme of physiotherapy on stability, balance and function in stroke patients. This observational cohort study enlisted twenty five patients with a first stroke receiving a programme of physiotherapy at a community based therapy center and monitored them over a seven month period. The Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke patients (PASS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Barthel Index (BI) allowed assessment of stability, balance and function. The normalized data (PASS, BBS, BI) were subjected to Mann Whitney U tests (p <0. 05). Analysis of Variance was used to compare pre-test with post-test performance. Pearson's correlation coefficients were computed for the relationship between PASS, BBS and BI scores pre and post-test. For the 12 PASS items, for 25 participants, a total of 50 improvements were noted. For the 14 items of the BBS, for 25 patients, a total of 51 improvements were noted.Normalized mean increases from pre to post-test were insignificant (p<0.05) in all items. Overall PASS scores correlated with BBS scores (r=0. 84, p= 0.000) and BI scores (0.74, p=0.000). This outpatient based rehabilitation programme did not alter the functionality of patients over the study period and needs review.