Function After Physiotherapy in Botulinum Post-Stroke Toxin-A Hand

Muhammad Umar; Tahir Masood; Mazhar Badshah

Objective: To determine the effects of botulinum toxin A and physiotherapy (taskspecific training) on motor function of upper extremity and quality of life in patients with post-stroke focal hand dystonia. Methodology: Repeated-measures, single group pretest-posttest study was carried out on 23 patients recruited through nonprobability purposive sampling. All the patients received Physiotherapy (Task Specific training) preceded by botulinum toxin A (BoNT A) injection. The task-specific training was carried out three times a week for the duration of one hour per session, for a period of 8 weeks. The data were collected at baseline, after 4 weeks and 8 weeks of intervention using Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) and Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL). Repeated measures ANOVA was used to evaluate treatment-induced changes. Results: Mean age of patients was 43.57±10.94 years. 15(71.4%) patients were male and 6 (28.6%) were female. Significant improvements were noted in Wolf motor function test and quality of life after 8 weeks of intervention with P value < 0.001. Week-wise comparisons of means of Wolf motor function test and SS-QOL showed significant improvement after 4 weeks and 8 weeks of intervention (P <0.001). Conclusion: It is concluded that botulinum toxin A followed by task-specific training significantly improves the function of upper extremity and quality of life among patients of focal hand dystonia.