Introduction: The therapeutic effects of pressure garments (PGs) is scarce in stroke rehabilitation.
Objectives: To determine the effects of PGs on upper extremity motor recovery among stroke patients.
Methods: This on-going multicenter randomized controlled trial recruits cognitively screened stroke patients in China. Inclusion criteria are: 18–80 years old; 1–12 months of first onset ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke; Brunnstrom Stage of Recovery of 3, 4 or 5; and Modified Ashworth Scale≤level 2 for elbow, wrist, and hand. Patients are randomly assigned to three different PG groups – Dorsal-Double-layered 10% (DD-10), Single-layered 10% (S-10), and Single-layered 0% (S-0) circumferential reductions, respectively, 14 hour/day for 8 weeks, besides receiving 30 min-occupational therapy intervention, 5 day/week for the first 4 weeks. This preliminary analysis focused on the comparison of Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scores of 34 patients, collected at Time 1 (Baseline), Time 2 (Week 4), and Time 3 (Week 8).
Impact / Results: FMA scores increased significantly post-intervention for DD-10 (n=13, 31.23±14.4 to 45.23±15.8, p<0.01) and S-10 (n=11, 33.73±18.4 to 46.27±11.2, p<0.01). No difference was detected for S-0. No between-group difference was noted.
Conclusions: DD-10 and S-10 improve upper limb motor recovery after 8 weeks of application; however, more data is needed to substantiate these findings and to detect the difference between them.