Factors influencing recovery of upper limb motor function during constraint-induced movement therapy for people with stroke

Auwal Abdullahi; Bishir Sabo; Umaru Muhammad Badaru; Wim Saeys; Steven Truijen

doi:10.1515/tnsci-2022-0260

Factors influencing recovery of upper limb motor function during constraint-induced movement therapy for people with stroke

Transl Neurosci. 2022 Dec 8;13(1):453-459. doi: 10.1515/tnsci-2022-0260. eCollection 2022 Jan 1.

Authors

Auwal Abdullahi¹, Bishir Sabo^{1

2}, Umaru Muhammad Badaru¹, Wim Saeys³, Steven Truijen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria.
² Department of Physiotherapy, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria.
³ Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, University of Antwerp, Movant, Wilrijk, Belgium.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the personal and clinical factors that can predict recovery of motor function in people with stroke.

Methods: Characteristics of the study participants such as age, sex, time since stroke and type of stroke, motor function, shoulder pain, amount and quality of use of the affected limb in the real world, wrist and elbow spasticity, handedness, central post-stroke pain and dose of massed practice were recorded. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression.

Results: A total of 144 patients with stroke with mean age, 58.71 ± 19.90 years participated in the study. The result showed that, the whole model significantly explained the total variance by 88.4%, F(14, 144) = 32.870, R ² = 0. 0.781, p < 0.001. However, in the final model, only four independent variables in the order of degree of predictability, amount of use of the limb in the real world (Beta = 0.455, p = 0.003), intensity of practice during rehabilitation session (Beta = 0.321, p < 0.001), wrist spasticity (Beta = 0.148, p = 0.004) and side affected (Beta = 0.093, p = 0.033) significantly predicted recovery of motor function.

Conclusion: Encouraging the use of the limb in the real world may be more important than practice during rehabilitation session in the clinic or in the laboratory.

Keywords: activities of daily living; motor recovery; neuropathic pain; quality of life; stroke.