The Effects of the Proprioceptive Control and Visual Feedback for the Limits of Stability in Patients with Chronic Hemiplegia

고유수용성 조절과 시각적 피드백이 만성 편마비 환자의 안정성 한계에 미치는 영향

Purpose: Hemiplegic patients usually present with difficulties in maintaining their balance. Balance retraining is a major component of a rehabilitation program for patients with neurological impairments. This study compared the effects of prorpioceptive exercise and visual feedback program on the limits of stability (LOS) in chronic hemiplegia patients. Methods: Thirty subjects (mean age $57.0{\pm}9.8$) were recruited. The subjects were divided into a proprioceptive group and a visual group. The subjects for the proprioceptive group participated in the proprioceptive exercise program for 4 weeks, and the visual group were treated with visual feedback training using a Balance Master. Results: At the 4 week follow-up test, the LOS in the proprioceptive group improved significantly in all directions (p<0.05). However, improvement was only observed in the forward direction in the visual feedback group. Therefore, the proprioceptive control approach improves the LOS in chronic hemiplegia patients. Conclusion: These results suggest that compared with physical therapy alone using a proprioceptive control approach to hemiplegia, there was no additional benefit of visual feedback training, such as Balance Master, when administrated in combination with other physical therapy interventions.