Effects of Vojta Therapy on Posture and Trunk Control

Effects of Vojta Therapy on Posture and Trunk Control in Patients With Sub-acute Stroke

Vojta therapy that is reflex locomotion therapy is a neurophysiological rehabilitation approach that stimulates specific "reflex zones" on the body to activate global, innate movement patterns. In stroke rehabilitation, it is used to improve postural control, trunk stability, and functional movement by engaging automatic motor responses. Vojta stimulation can activate motor cortical and subcortical areas as well as postural muscles. Pose estimation will be used to analyze human motion in stroke patients. The study will identify if there is significant difference in the comparative effects of Vojta therapy in addition to routine physical therapy on posture, trunk control and upper extremity motor function in sub-acute stroke patients

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Stroke; Stroke Ischemic
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Vojta therapy; Other: Routine physical therapy

Detailed Description

Vojta therapy can be used in the early stages of stroke patients' rehabilitation because acute stroke patients are characterized by a disruption in their capacity to react to changes in body posture, necessitating automatic postural adjustment. This study will determine the comparative effects of Vojta therapy in addition to routine physical therapy on posture, trunk control and upper extremity motor function in patients with sub-acute stroke. Body angles will be measured used Vojta therapy.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 62
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Wajeeha Mahmood, BSPT,PPDPT,MSNMPT; Phone Number: 03349867317; Email: 70137173@student.uol.edu.pk

Study Locations

• Pakistan
  • Lahore, Pakistan
    • Recruiting
    • Dr Wajeeha Mahmood (PT)
    • Contact: Wajeeha Mahmood, BSPT, PPDPT, MSNMPT; Phone Number: 03349867317; Email: 70137173@student.uol.edu.pk
    • Contact: Email: 70137173@student.uol.edu.pk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 45-65 years
• Both males and females
• First time subacute stroke (7 days post stroke to 3 months)
• Brunnstrom stage 1,2
• A confirmed CT scan for subacute ischemic stroke
• A hemiplegia with score of ≤2 of medical research council scale for muscle strength of the arm (MRCS)
• Premorbid modified Rankin scale score ≤ 3
• Stroke patient who can achieve supported standing
• Patients having NIHSS score 16-20 will be included
• Patient who can achieve sitting for 30 seconds

Exclusion Criteria:

• Severe cognitive impairments that can hinder rehabilitation
• Limitations in communication due to aphasia
• Altered consciousness or dementia (Epple et al., 2020b)
• Patients suffering from postural hypotension

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
Experimental: Experimental arm; Vojta therapy and routine physical therapy	Other: Vojta therapy; Vojta therapy will be implemented for reflex rolling and reflex creeping. A small pressure with dorsal, medial and cranial directional stimuli will be provided. After stimulation the reactions are extension of spine, flexion of hip joint, then knee joint and in the end at ankle joint. 5 sessions per week with a 60-minute session are part of protocol for routine physical therapy and vojta therapy for 8 weeks.; Other Names: Reflex locomotion therapy; Other: Routine physical therapy; The control group will receive routine physical therapy treatment which will consist of positioning, passive movements of the limbs, sensorimotor exercises for the affected limb using task-oriented training and motor relearning program consisting of repetitive motor skills consisting of functional tasks and involves task breakdown, such as transfers, upper limb function will be performed. 5 sessions per week with a 60-minute session are part of protocol for routine physical therapy and core stability for 8 weeks.
Active Comparator: Conventional therapy arm; Routine physical therapy	Other: Routine physical therapy; The control group will receive routine physical therapy treatment which will consist of positioning, passive movements of the limbs, sensorimotor exercises for the affected limb using task-oriented training and motor relearning program consisting of repetitive motor skills consisting of functional tasks and involves task breakdown, such as transfers, upper limb function will be performed. 5 sessions per week with a 60-minute session are part of protocol for routine physical therapy and core stability for 8 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Trunk control	Trunk performance will be assessed with Trunk control test. It consists of four items assessed on a three-point ordinal scale. Items include rolling to affected and non-affected side, sitting, and balance in the sitting position for 30 seconds. The total score is from 0 to 100, a higher score of 50 points indicates better performance. A 12-point score indicates abnormal pattern of movement while a 25 -point score means movement was normal. Internal validity is a= o.86 while r= 0.76 It is a validated test for posture control and motor	8 weeks
Pose estimation	Pose estimation software will be used for posture information. It will use key points as joints from the body and their position in space and time. In pose estimation the position of each body joint is estimated. It is based on activity recognition. The recognition is done by segmenting the position of the key points of the joints of the individuals in the scene. The Smart phone cameras are used for picture and then the software recognizes the key points on the picture. The software will record precise posture information. The program uses user-selected images to determine angles between various body components	8 weeks
Posture control	To measure posture control posture assessment scale for stroke will be used. It will determine posture after stroke in sitting, standing and lying position. It's a 4-point scale and ranges from 0-36. It consists of 12 items where items are scored from 0-3.It will measure balance in sitting, standing and lying. It will measure the ability of the individual to maintain balance with different positions. Inter ratter reliability for individual items is α=0.88. It has excellent predictive validity with α=0.86	8 weeks
Motor Evaluation Scale for upper extremity	Motor evaluation scale for upper extremity will be used to measure motor activity of arm and hand. It has 8 tasks for arm with six categories of responses and hand has 6 tasks items with three categories. While functional tasks have three items with three categories. It has items of arm with total score of 40 and hand items with total score of 18. The maximum score for the scale is 58. The scale has good test-retest reliability. Reliability is 0.99 for MESUPES arm and 0.97 for MESUPES hand. Validity is 0.87	8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Lahore

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 15, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 15, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 17, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 17, 2025
• First Posted (Estimated): November 24, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 28, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 22, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Stroke; upper extremity function; trunk control; Vojta therapy; cerebral vascular accident; pose estimation; posture control
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Ischemic Stroke; Stroke
• Other Study ID Numbers: UOL/IREB/25/12/0031

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No