2017 Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 167-170
Decreasing the length of stay in stroke rehabilitation hospitals is of utmost importance as is quickly admitting rehabilitation and performing the most efficient rehabilitation possible；rehabilitation programs must be refined to be as effective as possible.
We emphasized the importance of strengthening of the uninvolved lower limb and have administered stand-up and sit-down exercises 400-600 times for approximately 2 hours per day. In occupational therapy, exercises were also done mainly for increasing the uninvolved lower limb's power. ROM exercise of the paralyzed upper limb was performed by the patients' own uninvolved hand. Swallowing exercise was not performed since it is supposed to have little effective evidence. Most of the patients spent more than four hours in the rehabilitation room.
Our rehabilitation ward began in August 2014, and treated 254 patients in 18 months. The outcome was compared with the national study of stroke rehabilitation (9,041 cases). Although there was no difference in FIM scores at admission (74.4 in our case and 71.1 in national group), a difference appeared in FIM scores at discharge (94.6 in our cases and 88.3 in national group). Length of stay was 45.0 days in our cases, but 81.3 days for the national group. 80.3% in our cases and 66.3% in national group were discharged to their own home.
Our study showed that the length of stay can be shortened with 400-600 stand-up and sit-down exercises, strengthening of the lower extremities, and omission of swallowing exercise.
