Effects of intensive multiplanar trunk training coupled with dual-task exercises on balance, mobility, and fall risk in patients with stroke: a randomized controlled trial.

After a stroke, poor trunk control often undermines balance and increases the risk of falls, so researchers wanted to know whether combining intensive multiplanar trunk exercises with dual-task practice, doing a mental or physical task while training balance, would help more than standard comparison care. In this randomized controlled trial, 74 people with hemiplegic stroke were assigned to an experimental group receiving this combined training or a comparison group, and trunk control was measured using a standard trunk impairment scale as the main outcome, alongside balance, walking speed, functional mobility, and fall risk as secondary measures. The experimental group showed statistically significant improvements in trunk control that were maintained at six and twelve months, and the secondary measures, including balance, walking, and fall risk, also improved meaningfully over the same follow-up period. This is an interesting result because it suggests gains from a structured trunk and dual-task program can persist well beyond the treatment phase.

The main limitation is that this is a single trial of moderate size, so how well these findings generalize to broader stroke populations and different clinical settings remains uncertain.

If you or someone you know is recovering from a stroke, keeping balance steady and avoiding falls is often one of the biggest daily challenges. This study looked at whether a structured exercise program focusing on trunk movements in multiple directions, combined with tasks that challenge attention and thinking at the same time, could help more than a standard comparison program. In a trial of 74 people with stroke-related paralysis on one side of the body, those who did the combined trunk and dual-task training showed improvements in trunk control, balance, walking ability, and everyday mobility.

These improvements were still present when checked six and twelve months later, and the risk of falling was also reduced in this group compared with the comparison group over that same period. These results are encouraging because they point to lasting benefits rather than short-term gains only. However, this was one trial, and while it involved random assignment to groups, its size means the findings should be seen as promising rather than definitive proof of what works best for everyone recovering from stroke.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

For clinicians weighing how to structure trunk and balance rehabilitation after stroke, this trial addresses whether adding intensity, multiplanar trunk movement, and dual-task elements to training produces measurable gains beyond a comparison program. Seventy-four patients with hemiplegic stroke, mean age 61.71 years, were randomized to experimental or comparison groups, with trunk impairment scale score as the primary outcome and Berg balance scale, 10-meter walk test, timed-up-and-go, timed-up-and-go-cognitive, and Stroke Impact Scale-16 as secondary measures, analyzed using linear mixed modeling across baseline, three months, and six- and twelve-month follow-ups. The experimental group showed a statistically significant increase in trunk impairment scale scores from baseline to three months, sustained at six and twelve months, and all secondary outcomes showed significant, clinically meaningful improvement in this group, with fall risk significantly reduced between groups at six and twelve months.

This pattern suggests that combining multiplanar trunk work with dual-task practice may contribute durable functional gains rather than short-lived effects. The main constraint for applying this to practice is that it is a single trial of modest size testing one specific combined protocol against one comparator, so it does not establish superiority over other established trunk or balance interventions, nor does the abstract detail comparator content in enough depth to isolate which component drove the effect.