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One‐legged bicycling as an assessment tool for patients with stroke
Author(s) -
Sunnerhagen K. S.,
Mattsson K.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2005.00420.x
Subject(s) - isometric exercise , stroke (engine) , dynamometer , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , medicine , muscle biopsy , workload , heart rate , biopsy , blood pressure , mechanical engineering , aerospace engineering , computer science , engineering , operating system
Objective – To assess whether one‐legged bicycling correlates with muscle strength and thereby could work as an outcome measure for persons with stroke. Methods – The study comprised 29 men (age 35–65) with a first occurrence of stroke 6–35 months earlier. Each leg was evaluated separately. A ramp protocol was used (10 W/min), with continuous recording of the ventilatory uptake ( V o 2 ) and heart rate. An isokinetic dynamometer was used to assess strength and endurance. Enzyme assays were performed on muscle biopsy samples. Results – The peak isometric strength and isokinetic strength of the paretic leg correlated with the max. W on the bicycle. The oxidative enzyme citrate synthase correlated with the workload for both legs on the bicycle and lactate dehydrogenase correlated with peak isometric strength in both legs. Conclusions – The one‐legged bicycle exercise test can be used to assess endurance in persons with a previous stroke as it correlates with dynamometer testing and muscle biopsies.