The effects of physical therapy on exaggerated muscle tonicity, balance and quality of life on hemiparetic patients due to stroke

Objective: to determine the effects of physical therapy on balance, exaggerated muscle tonicity and quality of life on patients with hemiparesis. methods: this quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2011 among male hemiparetic patients secondary to stroke, at a physiotherapy centre in neyshabur, iran. twenty-four patients were randomly assigned to two equal groups representing the cases and the controls. the cases were assigned to do the practical protocol for 4 weeks. to collect the data, berg balance scaling, modified ashworth scale, barthel activities of daily living index and demographic questionnaires were used. paired and un-paired t-tests were used to analyse data. all analyses were done on spss 16. results: the two groups were similar before intervention. post-test analysis showed that the average balance and quality of life significantly improved (p<0.001) among the cases, and the quadriceps muscle tonicity decreased (p<0.001). among the controls, there was no significant change between pre-test and post-test readings. conclusions: physical therapy can enhance balance and quality of life of hemiparetic patients and reduces their exaggerated muscle tonicity.