1509 - A Retrospective Analysis on the Efficacy of Body Weight-Supported Gait Training in Post-Stroke Inpatient Rehabilitation

Several studies have examined the use of body weight-supported gait training (BWST) in rehabilitation, yet additional research is needed to identify patients who will receive the most benefit. We aimed to investigate the impact of BWST during inpatient rehabilitation (IR) on abilities to perform Activities of Daily Living and transfers in stroke patients.

Design:

Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Patient Assessment Instrument (IRF PAI) data, collected at admission and discharge, was reviewed to examine differences between patients undergoing BWST versus no-BWST treatment for functional outcomes regarding dressing, sit to stand, chair/bed-to-chair transfer, car transfer, and toilet transfer. Mixed effect analyses [time, treatment (BWST vs no-BWST), time x treatment] were used to assess changes in outcomes from admission to discharge between BWST versus no-BWST groups and multiple comparisons were performed to compare baseline and discharge values.

Results:

162 charts were reviewed [BWST: n=69, (age=31-89, 62% male); no-BWST: n=93 (age=31-92, 58% male). During IR, dressing and transfers significantly improved across groups (p< 0.0001). Rates of improvement were similar between the BWST and no-BWST groups for all comparisons but trended towards greater improvement in BWST for upper body dressing (p=0.05). Importantly, at admission, functional impairment was worse in the BWST group, and this was statistically significant for lower body dressing, sit-to-stand, and car transfer (p< 0.05).

Conclusions:

This study showed similar improvement during IR in patients treated with BWST despite increased severity of impairments at admission supporting a possible positive effect of BWST. Future analyses could include a case control design or prospective studies to stratify by severity of functional impairment to better understand the impact of BWST during IR for stroke patients.