Body Awareness Therapy for People With Stroke

Affected balance capacity is common after a stroke due to paresis and sensory disturbances. The affected balance capacity may cause walking disturbances, falls and decreased mobility. Balance may be improved by physical therapy. A possible method for balance training is body awareness therapy, that was introduced in Sweden by Jacques Dropsy and Gertrud Roxendal. Earlier body awareness therapy was mostly used in psychiatric care but in the recent years the method has been used for people with long-tern pain, amputations and multiple sclerosis. Body awareness therapy includes exercises in lying, sitting and standing. Focus of the exercises are awareness of one´s movement behaviour, breathing patterns, resources and limitations. Postural control is an essential part in the exercises. Body awareness therapy could be used for people with stroke as a way to improve postural control. The aim of this study is to investigate if balance training using body awareness therapy can improve balance and walking in people after stroke. The interventions consists of body awareness therapy once a week for 8 weeks.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stroke
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Balance training using Body awareness therapy

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 46
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Sweden
  • Örebro, Sweden
    • Primary Health Care Centres

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosed stroke more than 6 months ago. Walking capacity of 100 meter with or without assistive device.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Medical or cognitive impairment that prohibits participating in the intervention.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Experimental: Body awareness therapy	Other: Balance training using Body awareness therapy; Once a week, 1 hour for 8 weeks.Body awareness training may be performed by physiotherapist. Exercises are performed in standing, sitting and lying. Example of exercises are weight-balancing in standing and relaxation exercises.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Bergs Balance Scale	Test of functional balance. Includes 14 items all graded 0-4 where 0 indicate larger impairment. Total score is used here, maximum 56 and minimum 0. The Berg balance scale was developed for older patients but is a much used meausure of dynamic and static functional balance.	Change from baseline in Bergs balance scale at 9 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Timed Up and Go Test	test of functional mobility. Time is taken in seconds. The participants sits on a chair with armrests are then asked to rise, walk 3 meters, turn and walk back and sit down.	Change from baseline in Timed Up and Go test at 9 weeks
Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale	16 item questionnaire that investigates balance self-efficacy. Each items is a question; How secure are you that you will not fall when you...sweep the floor? The participant are asked to grade his/hers feeling of secutiry from 0, 10, 20 and so on up to 100. 0 is regarded low balance self-efficacy. The item responses are summed and divided by 16.	Change from baseline in Activities-specific Balance confidence scale at 9 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Örebro County Council
• Collaborators: Norrbacka-Eugenia Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mialinn Arvidsson Lindvall, RPT, MSc, Family Medicine Research Centre, Örebro County Council; Study Chair: Anette Forsberg, PhD, Family Medicine Research Centre, Örebro County Council

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2011
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): February 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 16, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): June 7, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 28, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 7, 2018
• Last Verified: May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: stroke; postural control; body awareness therapy
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Stroke
• Other Study ID Numbers: AF-1-2011

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No