Effects of dynamic body weight support on functional independence measures in acute ischemic stroke: a retrospective cohort study.
Justin Huber, Nicholas Elwert, Elizabeth Salmon Powell and 3 others
PMID 36647043WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with acute stroke who used dynamic body weight support during therapy gained more functional independence than those receiving standard care.
The average gain was 7.8 points higher on the 18 to 126 point FIM scale. This small retrospective study suggests a potential benefit but requires confirmation.
Key findings
01The group using dynamic body weight support showed significantly greater gains in total Functional Independence Measure scores compared to the standard care group, with an estimated mean difference of 7.8 points.
02Both the dynamic body weight support group and the standard care group achieved improvements from admission to discharge that exceeded the minimal clinically important difference of 22 points.
03In a post-hoc analysis, the dynamic body weight support group had a significantly greater improvement in the sphincter control subscore compared to the standard care group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a retrospective study with a small sample size of 52 patients. There was no standardized protocol for the DBWS intervention; the dosage and initiation were left to the discretion of the therapy team. The study did not account for stroke chronicity beyond the acute phase, so results may not apply to subacute or chronic stroke survivors. The groups were not randomized, so baseline differences or confounding factors may have influenced the results. Multiple comparisons were not corrected for, which increases the risk of false positive findings in the subscore analyses.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by non-U.S. government funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that dynamic body weight support is definitively superior to standard care. This is a small, retrospective study with no randomization and no standardized dosage of the intervention. The 7.8 point difference is modest and the study is explicitly described as preliminary, meaning it generates a hypothesis rather than proving a treatment effect.