Estimation of Upper Limb Motor Function and Its Use in Activities of Daily Living Based on Motor Time Required for the Cylinder Carrying Task in Patients with Post-Stroke Mild Hemiparesis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Effectively assessing upper limb function is important for individualized rehabilitation in patients with stroke. The usefulness of conventional assessments in clinical practice is limited for patients with mild hemiparesis. Thus, we aimed to calculate the cut-off value for distinguishing between the paretic and nonparetic sides to estimate upper limb motor function and the use of the paretic upper limb. In this cross-sectional study, 88 patients with post-stroke hemiparesis who met the eli-gibility criteria were enrolled; motor time was measured during the cylinder transport task. The results showed that total motor time on the paretic side significantly correlated with scores of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), which assesses motor paralysis, and the Jikei Assessment Scale for Motor Impairment in Daily Living (JASMID), which assesses paretic upper limb use in activities of daily living. The cutoff values were 3.09 and 3.22 s for the task in which the cylinder was placed in front of the patient and on the same side as the paralyzed upper limb, respectively. Thus, using this new method, clinicians can quickly and objectively assess mo-tor impairment and the functional use of the upper extremity.