Table 1.
Characteristics of all Subjects.
Table 2.
Leg strength, size and composition of all subjects.
Table 3.
Vascular measurements during submaximal isometric contraction protocol.
Fig 1.
Representative ultrasound images showing blood flow through either the superficial femoral artery of a neurologically intact control subject or the paretic and non-paretic lower limb of a stroke subject at rest or immediately following an 80% MVC.
Paretic and non-paretic superficial femoral artery images are from the same subject. D, diameter; FBF, femoral blood flow.
Fig 2.
(A) Blood flow through the superficial femoral artery was significantly reduced in the paretic (n = 10) and non-paretic lower limb (n = 10) of stroke subjects in response to 10-second submaximal isometric contractions of the knee extensor muscles compared to age and sex matched control subjects (n = 9). All subjects performed work based on the perceived maximal effort of the test limb (i.e., equal effort). *Significant difference (p<0.05) control vs. paretic and non-paretic lower limb, mixed model repeated measures ANOVA. (B) Blood flow through the superficial femoral artery was similar between the paretic (n = 10) and non-paretic (n = 9) lower limb of stroke subjects when the non-paretic limb achieved target torques equal to the paretic limb (i.e., equal torque). Blood flow data could not be quantified in the non-paretic limb of one subject following the equal torque test session. n, number of subjects.
Fig 3.
An increased blood flow response in the paretic lower limb following an 80% MVC was positively correlated with (A) paretic limb strength, (B) symmetry of limb strength, (C) Fugl Meyer score and (D) physical activity.
There were no correlations between any of the measured parameters and paretic lower limb blood flow at rest.