Therapy aimed at improving walking ability after a Stroke may also give a boost to patients’ self-confidence, study findings suggest.

Canadian researchers found that stroke patients who underwent “task-oriented” walking retraining gained greater confidence in their ability to stay steady on their feet. This is important, the researchers say, because people’s beliefs in their abilities - and not just their physical capacity to function - help determine whether they stay engaged in daily life.

A Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is suddenly cut off, most often by a blockage in an artery. The resulting damage to the brain can have numerous lasting effects, including impairments in balance and movement.

The new study included 91 patients who had suffered a stroke within the past year, about half of whom went through six weeks of walking retraining aimed at 10 specific tasks, including walking on a treadmill, getting in and out of a chair, and going up and down stairs. The other half of the patients received therapy focusing on upper-limb mobility and function.

By the end of the study, patients in the walking group showed greater confidence in their ability to remain steady on their feet, becoming more comfortable with walking on icy surfaces, up and down stairs, or in crowds.

The findings are published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

This is one of the first studies to show that when Stroke patients practice specific tasks in therapy, it can give them a shot of self-confidence to carry into daily life, according to Dr. Nancy M. Salbach of the University of Toronto, the lead author on the study.

“This is important,” she told Reuters Health, “because the strength of our beliefs influences our decisions to engage in activities in the home or in the community.”

In light of this, Salbach and her colleagues conclude in their report, “rehabilitation interventions may enhance the reengagement of meaningful life activities by improving not only physical capacity, but also self-efficacy.”

Besides the overall effect of walking therapy on patients’ beliefs, the study found evidence that certain patients - those with low self-confidence to start, and those with symptoms of depression - seemed to gain the greatest confidence boost.

It’s possible that such patients may be particularly likely to benefit from the therapy, according to Salbach, but more research is needed to answer that question.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, April 2005.