Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Based on current evidence in the literature, we have found that people who have had a stroke in the past can potentially develop balance problems which may contribute to their risk of falls. It is also known in the literature that spasticity, a neurological condition that limits joint and smooth movements in the upper and lower limbs, can be one of many complications of stroke as a result of neurological damage to the brain and the central nervous system. However, what is not clear in the literature remains the relationship between spasticity and balance problems in persons post stroke. The purpose of our study is to investigate the effects of spasticity on balance and postural sway of persons post-stroke. Our goal is to study the difference in balance and postural sway of post stroke persons with ankle spasticity to understand if there is a significant difference in balance and postural sway of stroke survivors with high versus low degree of ankle spasticity. We hypothesize that greater degree of ankle spasticity would affect balance and postural sway more as compared to lower degree of ankle spasticity in the sample of our participants. The significance of our study is to emphasize the importance of spasticity management in clinical rehabilitation of post stroke persons with balance problems in order to reduce potential risk of falls and improve quality of life in the population of post-stroke persons with spasticity.