Abstract
[Purpose] For 55 cerebrovascular hemiplegic patients, muscle strength of both of the affected and non-affected limbs, Brunnstrom stage of lower limbs, deep sensation, and the weight-bearing rate on both of the affected and non-affected limbs were studied for correlation with the 6-minute walk distance. [Subjects] The average age of the patients was 65.1 years, the average time from the onset of stroke was 98.7 days. [Methods] The correlations between the 6-minute walk distance and the above variants were analyzed with stepwise multiple regression analysis. [Results] The weight bearing rate on the affected limb correlated significantly with the 6-minute walk distance. Thirty-four out of the 36 patients with more than 80% weight-bearing rate on the affected limb achieved a 6-minute walk distance of more than 300 m, and all of the patients who had more than 90% weight-bearing rate on the affected limb achieved a 6-minute walking distance of more than 500 m. [Conclusion] We concluded that the weight-bearing rate on the affected limb correlated most significantly with the 6-minute walk distance.
