Effects of Vojta Therapy on Posture and Trunk Control

NCT07244952 | Recruiting DMC

• 1 other identifier: UOL/IREB/25/12/0031
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 62
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Vojta therapy that is reflex locomotion therapy is a neurophysiological rehabilitation approach that stimulates specific "reflex zones" on the body to activate global, innate movement patterns. In stroke rehabilitation, it is used to improve postural control, trunk stability, and functional movement by engaging automatic motor responses. Vojta stimulation can activate motor cortical and subcortical areas as well as postural muscles. Pose estimation will be used to analyze human motion in stroke patients. The study will identify if there is significant difference in the comparative effects of Vojta therapy in addition to routine physical therapy on posture, trunk control and upper extremity motor function in sub-acute stroke patients

Conditions

Stroke; Stroke Ischemic

Keywords

Stroke; cerebral vascular accident; Vojta therapy; pose estimation; posture control; trunk control; upper extremity function

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Posture control

  To measure posture control posture assessment scale for stroke will be used. It will determine posture after stroke in sitting, standing and lying position. It's a 4-point scale and ranges from 0-36. It consists of 12 items where items are scored from 0-3.It will measure balance in sitting, standing and lying. It will measure the ability of the individual to maintain balance with different positions. Inter ratter reliability for individual items is α=0.88. It has excellent predictive validity with α=0.86

  8 weeks

• Trunk control

  Trunk performance will be assessed with Trunk control test. It consists of four items assessed on a three-point ordinal scale. Items include rolling to affected and non-affected side, sitting, and balance in the sitting position for 30 seconds. The total score is from 0 to 100, a higher score of 50 points indicates better performance. A 12-point score indicates abnormal pattern of movement while a 25 -point score means movement was normal. Internal validity is a= o.86 while r= 0.76 It is a validated test for posture control and motor

  8 weeks

• Motor Evaluation Scale for upper extremity

  Motor evaluation scale for upper extremity will be used to measure motor activity of arm and hand. It has 8 tasks for arm with six categories of responses and hand has 6 tasks items with three categories. While functional tasks have three items with three categories. It has items of arm with total score of 40 and hand items with total score of 18. The maximum score for the scale is 58. The scale has good test-retest reliability. Reliability is 0.99 for MESUPES arm and 0.97 for MESUPES hand. Validity is 0.87

  8 weeks

• Pose estimation

  Pose estimation software will be used for posture information. It will use key points as joints from the body and their position in space and time. In pose estimation the position of each body joint is estimated. It is based on activity recognition. The recognition is done by segmenting the position of the key points of the joints of the individuals in the scene. The Smart phone cameras are used for picture and then the software recognizes the key points on the picture. The software will record precise posture information. The program uses user-selected images to determine angles between various body components

  8 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Experimental arm

EXPERIMENTAL

Vojta therapy and routine physical therapy

Other: Vojta therapy; Other: Routine physical therapy

Conventional therapy arm

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Routine physical therapy

Other: Routine physical therapy

Interventions

Vojta therapy OTHER

Vojta therapy will be implemented for reflex rolling and reflex creeping. A small pressure with dorsal, medial and cranial directional stimuli will be provided. After stimulation the reactions are extension of spine, flexion of hip joint, then knee joint and in the end at ankle joint. 5 sessions per week with a 60-minute session are part of protocol for routine physical therapy and vojta therapy for 8 weeks.

Also known as: Reflex locomotion therapy

Experimental arm

Routine physical therapy OTHER

The control group will receive routine physical therapy treatment which will consist of positioning, passive movements of the limbs, sensorimotor exercises for the affected limb using task-oriented training and motor relearning program consisting of repetitive motor skills consisting of functional tasks and involves task breakdown, such as transfers, upper limb function will be performed. 5 sessions per week with a 60-minute session are part of protocol for routine physical therapy and core stability for 8 weeks.

Conventional therapy arm; Experimental arm

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 45 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age 45-65 years
• Both males and females
• First time subacute stroke (7 days post stroke to 3 months)
• Brunnstrom stage 1,2
• A confirmed CT scan for subacute ischemic stroke
• A hemiplegia with score of ≤2 of medical research council scale for muscle strength of the arm (MRCS)
• Premorbid modified Rankin scale score ≤ 3
• Stroke patient who can achieve supported standing
• Patients having NIHSS score 16-20 will be included
• Patient who can achieve sitting for 30 seconds

You may not qualify if:

• Severe cognitive impairments that can hinder rehabilitation
• Limitations in communication due to aphasia
• Altered consciousness or dementia (Epple et al., 2020b)
• Patients suffering from postural hypotension

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Lahore: lead

Study Sites (1)

Dr Wajeeha Mahmood (PT)

Lahore, Pakistan

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stroke; Ischemic Stroke

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases

Central Study Contacts

Wajeeha Mahmood, BSPT,PPDPT,MSNMPT

CONTACT

03349867317; 70137173@student.uol.edu.pk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Dr

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 17, 2025
• First Posted: November 24, 2025
• Study Start: November 15, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 15, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 30, 2026
• Last Updated: November 28, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

PA (1)