Authors: Alain Leroux, PhD He ´le `ne Pinet, BSc Sylvie Nadeau, PhD Affiliations: From the Department of Exercise Science, Concordia University, Montre ´al, Que ´bec, Canada (AL, HP); the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en re ´adaptation du Montre ´al me ´tropolitain, Constance- Lethbridge Rehabilitation Centre, Montre ´al, Que ´bec, Canada (AL); Universite ´ de Montre ´al, Faculte ´ de me ´decine-E ´ cole de re ´adaptation, succursale Centre-Ville, Montre ´al, Que ´bec, Canada (SN); and the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en re ´adaptation du Montre ´al me ´tropolitain, Institut de re ´adaptation de Montre ´al, Montre ´al, Que ´bec, Canada (SN). Correspondence: All correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Alain Leroux, PhD, Department of Exercise Science, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montre ´al, Que ´bec, Canada H4B 1R6. Disclosures: This work was presented in part at the 79th Annual Meeting of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 2002. H. Pinet was supported by a studentship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Funding for this study was provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science of Concordia University. Dr. Nadeau holds a Junior II investigator award from the FRSQ. 0894-9115/06/8510-0820/0 American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Copyright © 2006 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins DOI: 10.1097/01.phm.0000233179.64769.8c Task-Oriented Intervention in Chronic Stroke Changes in Clinical and Laboratory Measures of Balance and Mobility ABSTRACT Leroux A, Pinet H, Nadeau S: Task-oriented intervention in chronic stroke: Changes in clinical and laboratory measures of balance and mobility. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2006;85:820 – 830. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether, after a task-oriented exercise program, the changes in clinical measures of bal- ance and mobility were paralleled by changes in biomechanical parame- ters in subjects with chronic stroke. Design: Ten stroke subjects took part in an 8-wk exercise program aimed at improving balance and mobility through various functional tasks. Subjects were evaluated before and after the exercise intervention. Clin- ical measures included the Berg Balance Scale and the Timed-Up- and-Go and laboratory measures included ground reaction forces and center of pressure displacement during four functional tasks. Results: Stroke subjects showed significant improvements (P  0.05) in the clinical measures after completing the exercise program. Significant improvements (P  0.05) were also found in postural steadiness during tandem stance and stool touch and in force production through the paretic lower limb during sit-to-stand. This last result was strongly correlated (r = -0.93) with the improvements on the Timed-Up-and-Go after exercise intervention. In contrast, the increase in postural steadiness was poorly correlated with the improvements on the Berg Balance Scale. Conclusions: A task-oriented exercise program might improve both clinical and laboratory measures of balance and mobility in stroke sub- jects. However, several correlations between the changes in clinical and laboratory measures after exercise intervention were generally weak, indicating that these outcome measures assessed different components of improvements. Key Words: Stroke, Exercise, Balance, Mobility 820 Am. J. Phys. Med. Rehabil. ● Vol. 85, No. 10 RESEARCH ARTICLE Stroke