Comparison of Effects of NDT Vs BWSTT On Lower Extremity Among Chronic Stroke Patients

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study is to determine the effect of Neurodevelopment Treatment Vs Body Weight Supported Treadmill Training along with conventional therapy on lower extremity among chronic stroke patients. Study Design: Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). Place and Duration of study: This study took place n Lahore, Pakistan and the duration of the study was 6 months. Method: This study is a Randomized Controlled Trial utilized a non-probability purposive sampling technique, the primary outcome measure was Berg Balance Scale and Functional Gait Assessment which were used to check the balance and gait. The findings were then statistically analysed by non parametric tests Mann Whitney U Test and Friedman Test were used for between group and within the group comparisons respectively. Results: A total of 46 patients participated in the study among which after randomized allocation of 23(50%) in NDT and 23(50%) in BWSTT group. NDT group showed better results than the BWSTT group and the p value is 0.000 which is less than 0.05 when compared between the groups for balance at 12 weeks. NDT group showed better results than the BWSTT group and the p value is 0.001 which is less than 0.05 when compared between the groups for mobility at 12 weeks. Therefore, NDT is better than BWSTT for the improvement of both balance and mobility. Conclusion: Both of the treatment approaches have proven to be effective in treatment of balance and gait among chronic stroke patients but Neurodevelopmental Treatment has proven to be significantly more effective than Body Weight Supported Treadmill Training and has more significant results. Discussion: In the current study where NDT and BWSTT are compared to each other shows that NDT is highly effective for the treatment of balance in post stroke patients as compared to BWSTT that is only effective within the group but not as effective as NDT. Similarly Grozdek Covcic et.al in 2021 did a research on “Effects of Bobath treatment and specific mobilizations on gait in stroke patients” which indicated that Bobath technique in combination with soft tissue mobilization shows better results for the maintenance of balance and mobility in post-stroke patients. Also the Bobath treatment helped with increased AROM of the patient [1].