Effect of Sling Exercise Training on Balance in Patients with Stroke: A Meta-Analysis

PLoS One. 2016 Oct 11;11(10):e0163351. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163351. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effect of sling exercise training (SET) on balance in patients with stroke.

Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Ovid LWW, CBM, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP databases were searched for randomized controlled trials of the effect of SET on balance in patients with stroke. The study design and participants were subjected to metrological analysis. Berg balance Scale (BBS), Barthel index score (BI), and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) were used as independent parameters for evaluating balance function, activities of daily living(ADL) and motor function after stroke respectively, and were subjected to meta-analysis by RevMan5.3 software.

Results: Nine studies with 460 participants were analyzed. Results of meta-analysis showed that the SET treatment combined with conventional rehabilitation was superior to conventional rehabilitation treatments, with increased degrees of BBS (WMD = 3.81, 95% CI [0.15, 7.48], P = 0.04), BI (WMD = 12.98, 95% CI [8.39, 17.56], P < 0.00001), and FMA (SMD = 0.76, 95% CI [0.41, 1.11], P < 0.0001).

Conclusion: Based on limited evidence from 9 trials, the SET treatment combined with conventional rehabilitation was superior to conventional rehabilitation treatments, with increased degrees of BBS, BI and FMA, So the SET treatment can improvement of balance function after stroke, but the interpretation of our findings is required to be made with caution due to limitations in included trials such as small sample sizes and the risk of bias. Therefore, more multi-center and large-sampled randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm its clinical applications.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Activities of Daily Living
  • Databases, Factual
  • Exercise Therapy*
  • Humans
  • Motor Activity
  • Postural Balance
  • Stroke / therapy*
  • Stroke Rehabilitation

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Tianhe District Science and Technology Projects of Guangdong, China (No.201404KW021).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.