Despite that disability of the upper extremity is common after stroke, there is limited knowledge how it influences self-perceived ability to perform daily hand activities. The aim of this study was to describe which daily hand activities that persons with mild to moderate impairments of the upper extremity after stroke perceive difficult to perform and to evaluate how several potential factors are associated with the self-perceived performance. Seventy-five persons (72 % male) with mild to moderate impairments of the upper extremity after stroke (4 to 116 months) participated. Self-perceived ability to perform daily hand activities was rated with the ABILHAND Questionnaire. The perceived ability to perform daily hand activities and the potentially associated factors (age, gender, social and vocational situation, affected hand, upper extremity pain, spasticity, grip strength, somatosensation of the hand, manual dexterity, perceived participation and life satisfaction) were evaluated by linear regression models. The activities that were perceived difficult or impossible for a majority of the participants were bimanual tasks that required fine manual dexterity of the more affected hand. The factor that had the strongest association with perceived ability to perform daily hand activities was dexterity (p < 0.001), which together with perceived participation (p = 0.002) explained 48 % of the variance in the final multivariate model. Persons with mild to moderate impairments of the upper extremity after stroke perceive that bimanual activities requiring fine manual dexterity are the most difficult to perform. Dexterity and perceived participation are factors specifically important to consider in the rehabilitation of the upper extremity after stroke in order to improve the ability to use the hands in daily life.

Background: Muscle weakness is the most common impairment in the upper extremity after stroke, leading to a reduced ability to use the arm and the hand in daily activities. Grip strength is easier to measure than precise, but more time-consuming, isokinetic and isometric arm muscle strength measurements. It would therefore be advantageous in a clinical setting if grip strength could be used as a proxy for muscle strength in the entire upper extremity. Objective: To investigate the association between grip strength and isometric and isokinetic arm muscle strength in persons with chronic stroke. Methods: Forty-five persons with mild-to-moderate paresis in the upper extremity, at least 6 months post-stroke participated. Isometric grip strength was measured with a computerized grip dynamometer and arm strength (isometric shoulder abduction and elbow flexion as well as isokinetic elbow extension and flexion) with an isokinetic dynamometer. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the association between the muscle strength measurements. Results: There were significant correlations (p < .0001) between grip strength and all arm strength measurements in both the more affected (r = 0.77–0.82) and the less affected upper extremity (r = 0.65–0.82). Conclusion: This cross-sectional study showed that grip strength is strongly associated with muscle strength in the arm in persons in the chronic phase after stroke. As grip strength is easy to measure and less time-consuming than arm muscle strength measurements, this implies that grip strength can be a representative measure of muscle weakness of the entire upper extremity in the chronic phase after stroke.

Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine is an international peer-review journal published in English, with at least 10 issues published per year.

Differences in stroke care and health outcomes between men and women are debated. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between patients’ sex and post-stroke health outcomes and received care in a Swedish setting. Patients with a registered diagnosis of acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) or ischemic stroke (IS) within regional administrative systems (ICD-10 codes I61* or I63*) and the Swedish Stroke Register during 2010–2011 were included and followed for 1 year. Data linkage to multiple other data sources on individual level was performed. Adjustments were performed for age, socioeconomic factors, living arrangements, ADL dependency, and stroke severity in multivariate regression analyses of health outcomes and received care. Health outcomes (e.g., survival, functioning, satisfaction) and received care measures (regional and municipal resources and processes) were studied. Study population: 13,775 women and 13,916 men. After case-mix adjustments for the above factors, we found women to have higher 1-year survival rates after both IS (ORfemale = 1.17, p < 0.001) and ICH (ORfemale = 1.65, p < 0.001). Initial inpatient stay at hospital was, however, shorter for women (βfemale, IS = − 0.05, p < 0.001; βfemale, ICH = − 0.08, p < 0.005). For IS, good function (mRS ≤ 2) was more common in men (ORfemale = 0.86, p < 0.001) who also received more inpatient care during the first year (βfemale = − 0.05, p < 0.001). A lower proportion of women had good functioning, a difference that remained in IS after adjustments for age, socioeconomic factors, living arrangements, ADL dependency, and stroke severity. The amount of received hospital care was lower for women after adjustments. Whether shorter hospital stay results in lower function or is a consequence of lower function cannot be elucidated. One-year survival was higher in men when no adjustments were made but lower after adjustments. This likely reflects that women were older at time of stroke, had more severe strokes, and more disability pre-stroke—factors that make a direct comparison between the sexes intricate.