Background: Approximately 80% of stroke survivors experience motor impairment of the contralateral limb that severely affects their activities of daily living (ADL).
Objective: To evaluate whether an enriched task-specific training (ETT) program affected the performance and kinetics of sit-to-stand (STS) tasks.
Methods: The study was part of an exploratory study with a within-subject, repeated-measure-design, with assessments before and after a three-week-long baseline period, and six months after the intervention. Forty-one participants underwent assessments of strength and endurance measured by the 30-second-chair-stand test (30sCST). The STS-kinetics, including the vertical ground reaction force (GRF) during STS, were analysed in an in-depth-subgroup of three participants, using a single-subject-experimental-design (SSED). For kinetic data, statistical significance was determined with the two-standard deviation band method (TSDB).
Results: After the baseline period, a small increase was seen in the 30sCST (from 5.6±4.5 to 6.1±4.9, p = 0.042). A noticeable significant change in the 30sCST was shown after the intervention (from 6.1±4.9 to 8.2±5.4, p < 0.001), maintained at six months. The in-depth kinetic analyses showed that one of three subjects had a significant increase in loading of the affected limb post-intervention.
Conclusion: ETT can produce long-term gains in STS performance. Weight-bearing strategies could be one of several factors that contribute to improvements in STS performance in the chronic phase after stroke.
Keywords: Enriched environment; movement analysis; recovery of function; rehabilitation; sit-to-stand; stroke.