Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Kaltenborn-Evjenth(K-E) concept centralization exercise on the range of motion(ROM), pain, upper extremity function, muscle strength, proprioception, and subluxation of the shoulder joint in chronic stroke patients.
Methods: All study subjects were selected and recruited by the experimenter according to the selection process, and the experimental procedure was explained. a pre-test was conducted before the experiment, and those who did not meet the selection criteria were excluded. a total of 36 subjects were divided into two experimental groups, namely Experimental group 1 with Shoulder Centralization Exercise(SCE)(12 subjects) and Experimental group 2 with Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Upper Pattern(PUP)(12 subjects) and a control group with Functional Electrical Stimulation(FES)(12 subjects). the intervention time for each experimental group was 30 minutes/day, 5 times a week, for 2 weeks. for the intervention process, 3 sets of 15 times were performed, and a break of 60 seconds between sets was provided between the sets. for the intervention process, 3 sets of 30 times were performed. additionally, a rest period for 60 seconds was provided between the sets. in the control group, FES treatment was applied 5 times a week for 2 weeks.
Results: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of K-E concept centralization exercise on the ROM, pain, function, muscle strength, sensation, and subluxation of the shoulder joint in chronic stroke patients. it was found that SCE and PUP had a positive effect on the ROM, pain, function, muscle strength, and subluxation of the upper extremity joint in stroke patients. therefore, an experiment was conducted on chronic stroke patients 5 times a week for 2 weeks in this study to prove the clinical effect of SCE of the K-E concept. there were significant differences between the SCE and PUP groups in terms of the joint ROM, pain, function, muscle strength, and subluxation.
Conclusion:
In summarizing the intervention results, the PUP group had a significant difference in the ROM, pain, function, and subluxation compared to the SCE group. however, the SCE group showed a significant difference in effect than the PUP group with respect to the grip strength and sensation. although the SCE group showed a difference in the post-mortem results when compared with the PUP group, there was a statistically significant difference when compared with the control group. therefore, it could be predicted that SCE also had a clinical effect on the ROM, pain, function, muscle strength, sensation, and subluxation of the upper extremity joint. the limitations of this study are that the intervention period of this study is short(2 weeks), whereas most of the previous studies had an intervention period of approximately 4 weeks. additionally, the patient group is small for accurate research results; thus, there is insufficient evidence that can be used in clinical practice. a clearer study is needed in the future.