Clinician's Commentary on Patterson et al.

Since the 1990s, research examining functional motor recovery after stroke has shown the contributions of both true physiological recovery and compensation.2 Questions concerning the nature of true physiological recovery remain, however, and the work by Patterson and colleagues1 adds to this discussion by examining the recovery of functional balance after stroke. The authors examined whether scores on the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) related to force-plate measures of standing balance in individuals after stroke, which they deemed to be a physiological measure of recovery. They found that individuals who showed recovery of balance with BBS scores within normal limits did not necessarily demonstrate force-plate measures consistent with physiological balance recovery. The authors concluded that higher BBS scores might be the result of compensatory strategies without concomitant recovery of physiological balance. This is an important point because it demonstrates that individuals who may be classified as having normal clinical balance using the BBS may still demonstrate physiological balance impairments that influence safe community mobility