Correlation between weight transfer on paretic limb while standing in three directions and fugl-meyer assessment for lower extremities in individuals with stroke

Abstract

© 2015, Medical Association of Thailand. All rights reserved. Objective: To determine the correlation between percent weight transfer on paretic limb while standing and the Fugl-Meyer lower extremity motor assessment scale (FMA_LE) in individuals after stroke. Material and Method: Individuals after stroke who had limited community ambulation and walking speed less than 0.8 m/s were included in the study. Lower extremity motor control was measured in all participants by the FMA_LE and weight transfer on paretic limb while standing on bathroom scales in three directions (lateral, forward and backward). The percent weight transfer on the paretic limb (%WTpar) was the maximum of weight transfer in each direction divided by total body weight. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used for statistical analysis. Results: Forty-four individuals after stroke aged 61.27±12.09 years volunteered to participate in the present study. Their walking speed and FMA_LE were 0.37±0.21 m/s and 18.95±4.11 scores. The %WTpar scores while standing in each direction were 64.15±13.30% for lateral, 58.20±13.35% for forward and 61.10±10.52% for backward. A significant correlation was found between %WTpar in backward direction and FMA_LE (r = 0.38, p = 0.001). Conclusion: The weight transfer on the paretic leg in backward direction could be used as a clinical assessment tool to identify lower extremity performance in individuals after stroke. To minimize the gap of the ordinal scale in FMA_LE, assessment with metric units should be added. Weight transfer assessment while standing on bathroom scales in different directions provided continuous data and should be added to determine lower extremity motor assessment in individuals after stroke.