The Effect of Different Dual Task Practices on Activities of Daily Living in Stroke Individuals

Postural control is lost due to decrease in unilateral muscle strength and joint range of motion, and increase in muscle tone in stroke individuals, and accordingly, deterioration in balance and coordination between the two sides of the body is observed. Spasticity, abnormal movement patterns, and loss of motor control are observed in patients, and ambulation limitations occur in patients. In addition, approximately two-thirds of stroke patients have impairments in cognitive skills, which are necessary for the realization of motor skills. Depending on the executive dysfunction, problems also arise in the planning, sequencing, and coordination of actions. Stroke patients have difficulty in doing many activities that they encounter in their daily lives, such as walking and climbing stairs, and as a result, their quality of life and participation in daily life activities are negatively affected. For this reason, approaches aimed at regulating not only muscle tone and strength, but also approaches to ensure participation in daily life activities and increase functionality should be preferred in the rehabilitation process of stroke patients.

Considering the traditional approaches applied in stroke rehabilitation, it is seen that balance and gait training are frequently given to patients. However, in daily life, it may be necessary to use cognitive skills as well as motor activities simultaneously or to perform two motor skills at the same time. Patients have difficulty in performing two tasks at the same time, such as carrying a bag while climbing stairs, calculating while walking, and reading a newspaper while on an exercise bike. In order to increase the participation of stroke patients in daily life, the dual-task approach should be included in the treatment strategies.

Dual task applications are the ability to perform two tasks at the same time, which have different goals and can be evaluated separately, and is a motor learning-based approach. One of the tasks may be a motor task and the other may be a cognitive task, or both may be a motor task. Studies have concluded that dual-task training has positive effects on gait parameters, balance, and cognition, and it has been reported that it is a current approach that can be used in the treatment of stroke patients. However, there is no study comparing the participation of dual tasks, such as one cognitive and one motor task or two motor tasks, in activities of daily living in stroke patients.

When activities of daily living are examined, most of the motor activities are accompanied by actions that include cognitive processes such as attention, memory, problem solving, and concentration. For this reason, in this study, it is assumed that different dual-task approaches to be applied in the rehabilitation of stroke patients will give different results in the participation of individuals in daily life activities and that the application of motor and cognitive tasks together will be more effective than the application of two motor tasks together. In the light of all these, the aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of different dual-task practices on activities of daily living in stroke patients.

The hypothesis of this study is;