A custom-made sling to achieve personal goals in shoulder pain or subluxation in the subacute stroke phase: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND

The efficacy of the different shoulder orthoses available to prevent hemiplegic shoulder complications still remains debatable.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate how wearing a custom-made (CM) shoulder sling affected personal goals and complications among hemiplegic stroke patients undergoing realworld rehabilitation.

METHODS

A prospective, single-center, non-randomized, pilot study on patients having a stroke within the last 6 months with hemiplegic shoulder pain/subluxation >5 mm. The primary outcome was achievement in three personal goals according to Goal Attainment Scaling one month after (week 5) compared to before (day 7) sling wearing.

RESULTS

Twenty-two patients were included: 60 % male, 56.4 ± 12.1 years old. ≥1 goal was achieved by 90.5 % of patients after sling wearing (week 5) versus 36 % of patients before. VAS pain score (-1.3 ± 2.3; p = 0.01) and subluxation distance (-0.41±0.42 cm; p = 0.0001) were reduced at week 5. Both the Chedoke Arm and Hand Activity Inventory score (+9.0 ± 13.1; p = 0.0003) and Fugl-Meyer upper-extremity score (+9.5 ± 9.5; p = 0.00002) were improved after sling wearing.

CONCLUSION

We observed improvements in patient-desired outcomes, complications, and upper-limb functional recovery after CM sling wearing for 1-month.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04028999.