Comparison of balance in hemiparetic patients with right and left hemispheric lesion

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare balance ability in patients with single lesion of either the right or the left hemisphere. Materials and Method: A total of fifty hemipheric lesion survivors (25 patients with right hemispheric lesion-Group I, 25 patients with left hemispheric lesion-Group II) were included in this study. The Barthel Index was used to determine independency level of the sample. The following tests were used to evaluate their balance ability: (1) One leg stand test and Portable Computerized Kinesthetic Ability Trainer (Sport-KAT 550) were used to static balance measurement. (2) Timed Up-Go (TUG) Test, 10-meter walk test, Sit-to-stand test and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were used to for dinamic balance assessment. Results: The independency level of two groups was similar. The results showed that the patients with left hemispheric lesion had better scores for balance measurements (p?0.05). Conclusion: The patients with lesion of either the right or the left hemisphere perform balance ability poorly. Hemispheric lesion location is related to balance disturbances in brain lesion survivors. There is effect of lesion location on severity of balance impairments.