Stroke Survivors' Self-Reported Participation in Meeting Strengthening Guidelines

Abstract

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> The 2014 American Stroke Association's guidelines recommend strengthening exercises 2-3 days/week for stroke survivors. This study reports stroke survivors' strengthening activity engagement by race, age, gender, education, as well as covariates including body mass index (BMI), arthritis, and serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs (WCS). <h3>Design</h3> Retrospective cohort. <h3>Setting</h3> 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) health-related telephone survey, gathering geographically proportional data from the United States. This dataset is the most recent survey specifically addressing strengthening exercise. <h3>Participants</h3> 18,956 stroke survivors. <h3>Interventions</h3> Participation in strengthening activity: days/week or days/month. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> Survey question: "During the past month, how many times per week or per month did you do physical activities or exercises to STRENGTHEN your muscles?" <h3>Results</h3> Data were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analyses were applied. 22.5% of stroke survivors met the strengthening recommendations compared to 30.5% of the non-stroke population (p < 0.01). Significant differences in meeting the guidelines were found among stroke survivors by race (p < 0.01), age (p < 0.01), gender (p < 0.01), education (p < 0.01), BMI (p < 0.01), arthritis (p < 0.01), and WCS (p < 0.01). <h3>Conclusions</h3> Despite the availability of stroke guidelines, the majority of stroke survivors do not meet the recommended frequency for weekly strengthening. Stroke management rehabilitation professionals need to intentionally engage their patients early and reinforce often on the incorporation of strengthening into their weekly routines. Close attention to individual exercise barriers and facilitators may prove helpful in tailored exercise prescription and adherence. The rehabilitation community needs to engage actively in promoting this knowledge translation and compare 2017 BRFSS results longitudinally with future survey results to determine impact. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> None.