Physical activity level among stroke patients hospitalized in a rehabilitation unit.
Résumé
The current literature contains little information about the level of physical activity of hospitalized stroke patients. Improving knowledge in the area could help optimize rehabilitation. To determine the level of physical activity of hospitalized post-stroke patients to ensure that they achieved the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity per day (equivalent to 142 kcal) over sessions of 10 consecutive minutes. Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Unit of the Jean Rebeyrol Hospital (Limoges, France). All patients (N=88) less than 6 months post-stroke were included over a period of 7 months. Not applicable MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The duration of physical activity and related energy expenditure were estimated using a SenseWear®, Bodymédia® armband. Subjects wore the sensor on the non-paretic arm for two consecutive days from 9am to 4:30pm, corresponding to the period spent daily on rehabilitation. Fisher's simple correlation test and Mann Whitney's nonparametric test were performed. 88 patients aged 66 ± 17 years with a mean post-stroke period of 43 ± 34 days and a mean Barthel index of 61 ± 25/100, were enrolled in the study. Between 9am and 4:30pm, patients took part in an average of 23 ± 30 minutes of physical activity (equivalent to 91 ± 122 Kcal) in continuous of 4 ± 5 minute-sessions. Correlations were found between physical activity time in hospital and physical activity pre-stroke (r = 0.345, p <.0001), Barthel index (r = 0.284, p = 0.0002), body mass index (r = -0.440, p <.0001) and time to hospital release (r = -0.183, p = 0.0194). 62% of patients did not achieve the recommended amount of physical activity. Sessions dedicated to physical activity could motivate post-stroke patients and help them reach the recommendations before leaving the rehabilitation unit.