Inpatient Rehabilitation and Its Impact on Postural Control, Balance, Mobility, Motor Performance, and Physical Activity in People With Acute Stroke: A Case Series

Purpose: Early rehabilitation in people with stroke has been demonstrated to be important for the maintenance of functional independence, but there is little data on their physical activity during inpatient rehabilitation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of inpatient rehabilitation on postural control, balance, mobility, motor performance, and physical activity parameters in people with acute ischemic stroke. Case Reports: Six people with acute stroke received inpatient rehabilitation for the duration of their inpatient stay. The postural control, balance, mobility, and motor performance of participants were evaluated with the Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients (PASS-T), Mobility Scale for Acute Stroke Patients (MSAS), Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) before and after rehabilitation, respectively. The ActiGraph GT9X link accelerometer was used to detect the physical activity behavior.Results: Following inpatient rehabilitation, no improvements were observed in PASS-T, MSAS, RMI, and FMA scores except for Case 5. The overall physical activity levels of all participants were sedentary; however, despite daily variability, energy expenditure, light intensity physical activity, moderate to vigorous physical activity, and vector magnitude counts increased from baseline to discharge.Conclusion: Inpatient rehabilitation has a positive effect on the activity participation of people with acute stroke. For early mobilization and increasing activity participation of people with acute conditions, early inpatient rehabilitation is recommended.