Impact of Dominance in Early Functional Mobility in Stroke Survivors

Purpose : Stroke is a major cause of mortality and causes significant impairment of functional mobility, regardless of whether it affects the dominant or non-dominant side, can increase future health risks. Our study purpose was to determine the impact of dominance in functional mobility impairment on stroke survivors. Methods: The research was conducted at Krishna College of Physiotherapy, Karad, involving 132 stroke patients, both male and female, with either left or right side affected by stroke. Participants were selected by random sampling based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were evaluated using the Functional Independence Measure Scale (FIMS) and the Barthel Index Scale (BI). Collected data were analysed by SPSS version 26.0. Results: The study evaluated about functional mobility impairment on the dominant and non-dominant sides on the 1st and 45th day post-stroke. For Barthel index assessment, group B had significant improvement ( p <0.0001 ) than group A(p<0.2846) There was more improvement of Functional Mobility seen in the group B (p <0.0001) for Functional Independence Measure ) affected Stroke survivors than compared to group A (p 0.0004) for Functional Independence Measure). Between group analysis for post test measurements was (p<0.0001) for both BI and FIMS showing significant differences. Conclusion: This study revealed that, 45 days post-stroke, functional mobility was significantly impaired in survivors of stroke with dominant side affected compared to the non-dominant side.