Core Stabilization Exercises in Stroke

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. Falling is defined as a person accidentally lying on a floor or another low level with or without injury. In patients with stroke occur motor, sensory, functional and cognitive disorders which are increased the rate of falls after stroke. Physiological and psychological complications that occur as a result of a fall are exhausting for both the patient and the therapist. Because while the patients regress physiologically even more, the \'fear of falling again\', which occurs with falling, reduces the patient\'s participation in rehabilitation.When looking at the risk factors determined for falls in stroke patients, reduced mobility and impaired balance functions are in the first place and that is evidenced with most of falls occur during walking and transfers the most frequent.The main reason of affected mobility is the weakness in the deep trunk muscles and insufficient stability, except for the loss of strength in the affected lower extremity. In the literature, it is stated that having strong core muscles can contribute to the efficient use of the lower extremity. According to the previous studies, applied stabilization exercises in addition to traditional rehabilitation improve the balance and mobility functions of patients with subacute stroke. However, there is not enough information about the benefits of these exercises in patients with chronic stroke. Most falls occur at home specially in the bedroom and bathroom in patients with stroke. This indicates that environmental factors should be taken into consideration in the rehabilitation program besides physical factors, that is, a \"multifactorial falls prevention program\" should be implemented. Based on these information, the aim of our study is to investigate the benefits of core stabilization exercises which is included in a multifactorial training on falling number, fear of falling, lower extremity function and balance in patients with chronic stroke who have a history of falling.