Posted 6/25/2008

American Heart Association is funding
the $280,000, four-year project

Arnold School researcher Dr. Stacy Fritz is embarking on a study to compare which of two rehabilitation therapies produces the best outcome for recovering stroke patients.

The four-year effort is funded by a $280,000 grant from the American Heart Association.

With the cooperation of a group of 42 volunteers, all recent stroke victims, Fritz will evaluate which method of intensive physical therapy – one with and one without locomotor training -- produces greater improvements in gait, mobility, and balance.

Fritz and her research assistant Ashley Goodman, Ph.D. work on locomotor training with a client.

Intensive physical therapy involves exercises to help individuals relearn motor skills that are lost when part of the brain is damaged from a stroke. Locomotor training focuses on task-specific gatit training. It usually involves a team of trainers who assist individuals in walking on a treadmill with part of their weight supported by a harness.

"Locomotor training is costly and involves more people. We want to see if we can get the same results without all of the expense," Fritz said.

Fritz says the big plus for the study participants is that both therapies have produced positive results in pilot testing.

"We have a big need to figure out which therapy is better," said Fritz. She said more than half of the 5.6 million people living with stroke have residual motor disability.

The problem is acute in South Carolina, which leads the nation in stroke-related deaths and disabilities.

Targeted are individuals who have reached a plateau in their current therapy or others whose insurance benefits have run out.

Study participants will sign on for 30 hours of therapy, three hours per day each weekday for two weeks, plus four evaluation sessions.

Fritz said the study also would involve Dr. Gordon Baylis, a professor in the USC Psychology Department, who will examine the participants at the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging.

Baylis will look at the brains of study group members using the center’s Siemens 3 Tesla, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system. The exams are expected to reveal whether either of the therapies produces physical changes in the brain.

Fritz is the principal investigator for the study; Dr. Bruce A. McClenaghan is co-investigator.