Effects of baclofen administered to reduce muscle spasm on balance maintenance, gait ability and quality of life in stroke patients

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of Baclofen on balance, gait, functional independence, and quality of life in ischemic stroke patients. Thirty patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke by a rehabilitation medicine specialist were randomly assigned to either an experimental group that underwent exercise therapy in conjunction with Baclofen or a control group that received conventional exercise therapy without Baclofen. In this study, Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up and Go, and 10-Meter Walk Test were used to evaluate balance and walking ability. Functional Independence Measure was employed to assess functional independence, and Stroke-Specific Quality of Life was used to evaluate the quality of life. The experimental results revealed statistically significant improvements in all evaluation measures for both groups when comparing post-test to pre-test. However, in comparisons between groups, all test items in the experimental group that combined Baclofen with exercise therapy were significantly higher than those in the control group. In conclusion, these results suggest that integrating Baclofen into exercise therapy rehabilitation programs could be a promising approach to enhance recovery outcomes for patients recovering from ischemic stroke.