Effect of Newly Developed Balance Training System in Patients with Stroke

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of newly developed balance training system (I balance S®) in chronic hemiplegic patients. Thirty chronic (more than 6 months) hemiplegic patients who were capable of standing without assistive devices participated in this study. The study started with “pre-evaluation” such as Berg balance test (BBT), 10 m walking test (10mWT) and Functional reach test (FRT). After pre-evaluations, balance training was applied for 4 weeks. And then, three phases of post-evaluation were performed, just after (post 1), 1 week (post 2), and 4 weeks (post 3) after treatment. All subjects showed a significant improvement in BBT (52.19±3.87 (pre), 53.12±3.14 (post 1), 53.38±2.99 (post 2), 53.65±2.90 (post 3)), 10m WT (9.93±2.36 sec, 9.56±2.53 sec, 9.30±2.25 sec, 9.16±2.62 sec, respectively) and FRT (19.33±4.99 cm, 21.55±4.57 cm, 21.98±4.69 cm, 21.83±4.84 cm, respectively) after training compared to the status before training. The hemiplegic patients trained by I balance S® showed a significant improvement in BBT, 10mWT and FRT after training. In addition, this effect lasted for 4 weeks. Therefore, newly developed balance training system (I balance S®) is considered to be a useful tool for balance training of chronic hemiplegic patients.