Postural instability years after stroke

Abstract

BackgroundFollowing a stroke, balance disturbances often persist despite full recovery of the paretic side. AimsThe aims were to determine how long postural instability could be detected after stroke and the differences in post-stroke patients under and above 65 years of age. MethodsStatic and dynamic posturography (passing weights from hand to hand around the body) measurements were performed on 29 patients with stroke after 3 ± 2.4 years (≤65 years) and 4.7 ± 3.3 years. (> 65 years) compared with 38 controls. ResultsOnly the pathway and the velocity assessed by dynamic posturography were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the younger group of patients compared with the controls. The older group of patients had significantly elevated parameters measured by both static (p < 0.01) and dynamic posturography (p < 0.05). Conclusionswe conclude, using a sensitive and reproducible method to assess both static and dynamic adjustments to maintain balance, that postural instability is significantly greater in post-stroke patients than control subjects. This difference is demonstrable up to 4 years after stroke, despite full recovery of the affected side.