The Effect of Visual Feedback Assisted Bicycle Ergometry in Improving Functional Activities of Lower Extremity among Post Stroke Patients-Quasi Experimental Study

Objective: The most common and widely recognised impairment caused by stroke is motor impairment. Motor impairments of lower limb limits the patient’s ability in standing and walking. The motor recovery of the lower limb can be enhanced by repetitive trainingat the early phase of rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to find out the effect of visual feedback assisted cycle ergometry training in improving the lower extremity function among post hemiparetic stroke patients. Study Design: Two groups pre test and post test Quasi experimental study design. Subjects: 30 patients of age group between 40-70 years who had a first stroke were randomly assigned into two groups, experimental cycling (N=10) group and conventional physiotherapy (N=10) group. Interventions: Patients of two groups received conventional physiotherapy training for 50-60 minutes a day. Additionally experimental group patients received 30 minutes of leg cycling training. Outcome Measures: The motor function of the lower extremity was assessed by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. dynamic standing balance was assessed by Step test and the functional ability was assessed by functional ambulation category scale. Results: In the with in-group comparison, both the cycling group and the conventional therapy group had improved significantly with respect to Fuglmeyer lower extremity score, step test score and functional ambulation category score. In between group comparison, experimental cycling group patients demonstrating better performance in both Fuglmeyer lower extremity score, step test score and functional ambulation category scale than the conventional therapy group patients. Conclusion: This study shows that there is a significant improvement in lower limb function among the experimental group patients after an early short duration of cycling training.