Actigraphic measurement of the upper limbs movements in acute stroke patients.
Chiara Iacovelli, Pietro Caliandro, Marco Rabuffetti and 5 others
PMID 31801569WHAT IT FOUND
Wrist sensors in 20 acute stroke patients showed the paretic arm moved less than the unaffected arm.
One index identified the paretic arm in 95% of patients. This is monitoring, not treatment.
Key findings
01Both actigraphic motor activity indices were smaller in the paretic arm than in the unaffected arm.
02The AR2_24h index correctly identified the paretic side in 95% of patients, compared with 85% for AR1_24h.
03AR2_24h correlated with NIHSS total score (r 0.714) and with the paretic upper limb motor sub-score (r 0.812).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study enrolled 20 acute stroke patients and 17 controls, so it is a small feasibility measurement study, not a treatment trial. The control group had orthopedic lower limb surgery, not stroke, so the comparison is not a clinical stroke outcome. All participants were right-handed, which limits generalisability. Passive movement by nurses affected the results, so the index may not be reliable in routine care. The paper does not show that actigraphy improves recovery or changes therapy decisions.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that actigraphy improves patient outcomes. The study measured arm movement and NIHSS scores in 20 patients, not recovery or treatment benefit.