Claire Marsal, Jean-Michel Gracies, Catherine Dean, Serge Mesure and Nicolas Bayle
National School Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, France
Paris 12 Val de Marne University, France
Macquarie University, Australia
Faculty of Sport Sciences, France
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Neurol Neurosci
Purpose: To investigate the beliefs of Physiotherapy Students (ST), professionals (PT) and physicians (MD) about engaging patients with post-stroke hemiparesis into guided self-rehabilitation contracts, to increase their exercise intensity and responsibility level. Method: A survey examining beliefs about post-stroke rehabilitation was completed by first (n=95), second (n=105) and third (n=48) year STs; PTs (n=129) and MDs (n=65) in France. Result: The belief about whether a patient may exercise alone varied between the professional groups with more STs and MDs finding it acceptable: 62% of PTs vs. 74% of STs (p=0.005) and 79% of MDs (p=0.02). For 93% of therapists (STs and PTs together) the caregiver may take part in physical therapy sessions. The appropriate weekly duration of exercises in chronic hemiparesis should be over 5 hours for 19% of PTs, 37% of STs and 51% of MDs (MDs vs. PTs, p<0.005). After stroke, functional progress through rehabilitation is possible all lifelong for 11% of STs, 19% of PTs (p<0.05, STs vs. PTs) and 29% of MDs (MD vs. PT, NS). Conclusion: The strategy of asking patients to perform exercises alone, in the practice or at home, is still not accepted by a large proportion of physical therapy professionals as compared with students or with physicians. Most therapists still see a <5-hour weekly duration of exercise as sufficient after stroke. Few therapists are ready to utilize the persistence of behavior-induced brain plasticity regardless of age or delay after the lesion.
E-mail: marsal2@orange.fr
Neurological Disorders received 1253 citations as per Google Scholar report
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