Impairments in bearing weight on or """"""""loading"""""""" the paretic lower extremity and in transferring weight from one lower extremity to the other are common after stroke. These impairments may make it difficult for stroke survivors to perform daily activities and to fulfill their roles as members of their families and communities. Even mild residual motor impairments may have a major impact on quality of life. The long-range goal of this research is to understand how impairments in paretic lower extremity loading and weight transfer abilities relate to functional limitation and disability in various subgroups of individuals with stroke. If problems with loading and weight transfer are found to play a major role in functional limitation and disability, then a second long-term objective will be to identify interventions that are effective in improving these abilities for individuals in each subgroup.
The specific aims of this application are to (1) use laboratory measures to identify valid clinical tests of impairments in loading and weight transfer; (2) determine the relationship between measures of loading and weight transfer abilities and measures of functional limitation and disability during recovery from mild to moderate stroke; (3) identify differences in post-stroke trajectories of loading and weight transfer based on initial level of impairment; and (4) relate changes in clinical and laboratory measures of loading and weight transfer to changes in measures of function and disability. Participants with a unilateral hemispheric stroke who have significant lower extremity motor impairment, but are able to stand up from a chair without physical assistance, will be tested at monthly intervals from 1 to 6 months post-stroke. At each test session, loading and weight transfer abilities will be measured in the laboratory using a dual force platform system. A variety of clinical tests of impairment, functional limitation, and disability also will be administered. Descriptive analyses, correlational analyses, multivariate analyses, and hierarchical linear modeling will be used to explore relationships between the impairment measures and the measures of function and disability. Improved understanding of these relationships may help clinicians examine patients in a more efficient manner, provide a more accurate prognosis, and make better decisions about the appropriateness and timing of interventions directed toward improving loading and weight transfer abilities.
| Mercer, Vicki Stemmons; Freburger, Janet Kues; Yin, Zhaoyu et al. (2014) Recovery of paretic lower extremity loading ability and physical function in the first six months after stroke. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 95:1547-55.e4 |
| Mercer, Vicki Stemmons; Freburger, Janet Kues; Chang, Shuo-Hsiu et al. (2009) Measurement of paretic-lower-extremity loading and weight transfer after stroke. Phys Ther 89:653-64 |
| Mercer, Vicki Stemmons; Freburger, Janet Kues; Chang, Shuo-Hsiu et al. (2009) Step Test scores are related to measures of activity and participation in the first 6 months after stroke. Phys Ther 89:1061-71 |
