Maze Control Training on Kinesthetic Awareness in Patients with Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To determine the influence of adding maze control training to the selected conventional physical therapy on kinesthetic awareness in patients with chronic stroke.

Methods: Thirty adult patients of both genders with chronic cerebral stroke were assigned to control and experimental groups randomly: the control group (A) received the selected conventional physical therapy rehabilitation program, while the experimental group (B) received the same program as group A in addition to the maze control training. Measurements for sway index, risk of fall, and knee proprioception before and after 8 weeks of treatment (24 sessions; three times per week).

Results: There were significant decreases of both sway index and risk of fall in both groups ( ≤ 0.001 in all measures), significant improvements of the knee proprioception in 30° and 75° in the experimental group ( value = 0.016 and ≤0.001, respectively). The in-between groups' comparison showed significant differences corresponding to both the sway index and risk of fall ( ≤ 0.001), and a significant difference in 75° ( ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion: Adding maze control training to the selected conventional physical therapy improved the kinesthetic awareness in patients with chronic stroke.