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FUNCTIONAL GAIT ASSESSMENT IN RIGHT VERSUS LEFT HEMISPHERE LESION PATIENTS OF STROKE IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Samia zafar, Riaz Hashmi, Anam Naz, Maryam Shabbir, Naveed Arshad, Iram Shafee, Bilal Umar, Umer Maqsood, Hafiz Sheraz Arshad

Background: Stroke is a prevalent condition that causes major morbidities and disabilities in individuals. Stroke results in disturbing the patient's functional status of life to a great extent. Different treatment strategies for stroke patients with respect to site of hemispheric lesion are least considered by researchers and clinicians. The disabilities related to left and right hemispheric lesion are also less under discussion. Regaining walking ability in stroke patients is somehow linked with site of hemispheric lesion and this ability is a big goal of all rehabilitation institutes.Objectives: To compare the functional gait among left and right hemisphere lesion patients of stroke.Methodology: This cross sectional comparative study included 126 patients among them 63 were with right and 63 were with the left sided hemispheric lesion. This study was conducted from December 2016 to May 2017. Convenience sampling was done and subjects were selected from different hospitals and rehabilitation centers of Lahore, Pakistan on the basis of inclusion & exclusion criteria after taking informed consent. Functional gait assessment scale is a unique measure with its clinical usefulness, ascertain demonstrable qualities for assessing functional gait performance and disturbance related to balance in stroke patients. FGA is suggested for its psychometric properties because it efficiently detect decrease in functional gait during walking by performing different walking tasks. It is a observational test with excellent validity, consistency and reliability with least ceiling effects. The descriptive statistical data was analyzed using SPSS v20. Means and Standard deviations was calculated and Independent sample t-test was used for comparison of functional gait between left and right hemispheric lesion patients. P-value ≤ .05 was taken statistically significant.Results: Mean difference of functional gait assessment scores in Group A was 12.56±2.595 and in Group B was 15.59±4.172 with p-value of <0.001*. P-value shows that the difference is significant because lower p-value represented for conformation to reject the Null hypothesis. According to the independent sample t-test there is a significant difference of FGA scores present between the two groups. Results gave the p-value less than the 0.05 which express that our findings are significant.Conclusion: Our study concludes that a significant difference is present between the two groups. The finding from this study gave us understanding that ambulatory functions differ with respect to site of hemisphere lesion. The site of hemisphere lesion impact on patient's functional gait has statistically significant. The patients had their stroke on left side hemisphere more prone to balance and gait impairment as compared to right hemisphere lesion patients expressed from the study population. So, these differences in deficits caused by left & right CVAs must be taken into account in various physical therapy approaches. Key Words: Hemispheric lesion, Stroke, Disabilities, Functional gait assessment scale (FGA), Walking abilities, Stroke rehabilitation, Gait.

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