This study suggests regular brisk walking as an effective approach to promote functional recovery in chronic stroke survivors. However, further studies are required before generalizing these results to the whole stroke population.

Background and Purpose-This study describes the development of a Rasch-built scale measuring activity limitations in stroke patients, named ACTIVLIM-Stroke. Method-This new Rasch-built measure was constructed based on stroke patients' perceptions of difficulty in performing daily activities. Patients were recruited from inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation departments in Belgium and Benin. A 73-item questionnaire was completed by 204 participants. A random subsample of 83 subjects was given the questionnaire a second time. Data were analyzed using RUMM2030 software. Results-After successive Rasch analyses, the ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire, a unidimensional and linear 20-item measure of activity limitations, was constructed. All 20 items fulfilled Rasch requirements (overall and individual item fit, category discrimination, invariance, local response independence, and nonredundancy in item difficulty). This simple patient-based scale encompasses a large range of activities related to self-care, transfer, mobility, manual ability, and balance. The ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire exhibited high internal validity, excellent internal consistency, and good crosscultural validity. The test-retest reliability of item difficulty hierarchy (intraclass correlation coefficientϭ0.99) and patient location (intraclass correlation coefficientϭ0.92) were both excellent. Furthermore, it showed good external construct validity using correlations with the Functional Independence Measure motor and the Barthel Index and a higher discriminating capacity than either of these widely used indices. Conclusions-The ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire has good psychometric qualities and provides accurate measures of activity limitations in patients with stroke. It is recommended for evaluating clinical and research interventions in patients with stroke, because it provides a higher discrimination and might be more sensitive to change. (Stroke. 2012;43:815-823.)

Background: Health professionals need valid devices to assess a stroke individual’s ability to walk. The aim was to evaluate the validity of the estimation of the walked distance by wearable devices and the impact of the sensor’s position in stroke individuals. Methods: Post-stroke patients able to walk without human assistance were equipped with several wearable devices: pedometers, Actigraph, and Sensewear Armband placed according to the manufacturers' recommendations. Participants walked for 6 min at a comfortable speed wearing all sensors at the same time. We analyzed the validity of sensor-estimated distances according to their position using Bland–Altman analysis, root-mean-square error, and coefficient of correlation. Results: In total, 35 individuals were included (mean age = 65 ± 15 years). The best estimations were given by the Actigraph worn on the unaffected ankle (mean bias (MB) = 22.6 ± 32.4 m; p = 0.37) and by the pedometer worn on the unaffected hip (MB = 20.5 ± 24.6 m; p = 0.46). The other sensors and positions provided large estimation errors over 95 m (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study led to a recommendation of a pedometer worn on the unaffected hip or an Actigraph worn on the unaffected ankle to get a valid estimation of the distance walked by stroke individuals.