The Functional Independence of Right and Left hemiplegic patients receiving physiotherapy at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku Ozalla
Abstract
Reports of functional outcome in relation to the lesion side is contradictory. There is lack of convergence of expert opinion on the functional outcome of the right and left hemiplegic patient. The purpose of the present study was to verify whether or not lesion side is a predictive factor for functional outcome. This study examined the difference in functional outcome between right and left hemiplegics. A cross sectional design was used to recruit 23 hemiplegic strokes patients receiving physiotherapy at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Ituku Ozalla between May and July 2012, with the mean age of 66.69 years for right and 62.10 years for left hemiplegics. The total functional ability of the patients was determined using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), which was compared with the Man-Whitney U-test. The left hemiplegics had a higher but statistically no significant difference in the functional independence than the right hemiplegic patients. The female left hemiplegics had a higher and statistically significant difference in the functional independence due to gender only in the transfer and motor ability. This study shows that the difference in functional independence of right and left hemiplegic patients was due to gender.Key words: functional independence, hemiplegia, lesion side, stroke
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