Article

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between exercise tolerance test (ETT)
performance at 6 weeks poststroke and subsequent performance in a treadmill and
overground locomotor training program (LTP). DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.
SETTING: Exercise testing laboratory in either a primary care hospital or
outpatient clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling individuals (N=469),
54.9+/-19.0 days poststroke, enrolled in the Locomotor Experience Applied
Post-Stroke randomized controlled trial. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: For participants randomly assigned to LTP, the number of
sessions needed to attain the training goal of 20 minutes of treadmill stepping
was determined. Regression analyses determined the contribution of ETT
performance (cycling duration), age, and 6-minute walk test (6MWT) distance to
attainment of the stepping duration goal. RESULTS: Age, 6MWT, and ETT performance
individually accounted for 10.74%, 10.82%, and 10.76%, respectively, of the
variance in the number of sessions needed to attain 20 minutes of stepping. When
age and 6MWT were included in the model, the additional contribution of ETT
performance was rendered nonsignificant (P=.150). CONCLUSIONS: To the extent that
ETT performance can be viewed as a measure of cardiovascular fitness rather than
neurologic impairment, cardiovascular fitness at the time of the ETT did not make
a significant unique contribution to the number of sessions needed to achieve 20
minutes of stepping. The 6MWT, which involves less intensive exercise than the
ETT and therefore is likely to be predominantly affected by neurologic impairment
and muscular condition, appeared to account for as much variance as the ETT.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS