Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

For stroke survivors, light physical activity linked to better daily function

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers used accelerometers to measure daily physical activity in 30 stroke survivors for a week, assessing how much the participants moved and how well they performed routine physical tasks. The study revealed that stroke survivors who engaged in a lot of light physical activity – taking leisurely walks or attending to nonstrenuous household chores, for example – also reported fewer physical limitations than their more sedentary peers.

The researchers describe their findings in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

“Stroke is a major cause of disability in older adults,” said Neha Gothe, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who led the research. “We know that physical activity can improve how well people survive a stroke and recover after the fact. But almost no research has looked at how physical activity of different intensities affects physical function among stroke survivors.”

Gothe and her research team used two measures of physical ability – the Short Physical Performance Battery, which measures balance, walking speed and lower-limb endurance, and the Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument, which asks participants to report how difficult it is for them to perform daily tasks such as getting in and out of a car or pouring water from a heavy pitcher.

The researchers discovered that, on average, the stroke survivors logged only about seven minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per day.

“In contrast, they averaged more than three hours of light physical activity each day,” Gothe said. “This includes things like walking at a leisurely pace, housekeeping, light gardening or other activities that do not cause a person to break a sweat.”

The amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was the best predictor of participants’ performance on objective measures of physical function, the researchers found. But a person’s self-reported ability to perform daily tasks was much more closely associated with the amount of time they engaged in light physical activity.   

“Our findings are preliminary but suggest that – in addition to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity – those daily routines that keep us on our feet and physically engaged in lighter tasks also contribute to better physical functioning in stroke survivors. This aligns with the latest Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans that emphasize the need to move more and sit less,” Gothe said. “Engaging in light physical activity can be healthy and beneficial, especially for those with chronic health conditions such as stroke.”

Editor’s notes
To reach Neha Gothe, email npg@illinois.edu.  

The paper “Associations between physical activity intensities and physical function in stroke survivors” is available online and from the U. of I. News Bureau.

DOI: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001410

Read Next

Life sciences Photo of Michael Ward standing in tall grass on a riverbank.

How are migrating wild birds affected by H5N1 infection in the U.S.?

Each spring, roughly 3.5 billion wild birds migrate from their warm winter havens to their breeding grounds across North America, eating insects, distributing plant seeds and providing a variety of other ecosystem services to stopping sites along the way. Some also carry diseases like avian influenza, a worry for agricultural, environmental and public health authorities. […]

Announcements Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering.

Illinois faculty member elected to National Academy of Engineering

Champaign, Ill. — Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Social sciences Male and female student embracing on the quad with flowering redbud tree and the ACES library in the background. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010