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Final Program


Final Congress Guide

Clinical Sciences/Health Conditions

400 Section - Characteristic Analysis of Fear of Falling and Severity on the Pusher Phenomenon

Tuesday, May 19, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PT

    Presenting Author/Autor expositor(s)

  • KA

    Kazu AMIMOTO, PhD

    Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Professor
    Sendai Seiyo Gakuin University
    Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    • Co-Author/Coautor(s)

  • YK

    Yuichi Kato, MS

    Department of Rehabilitation, PT
    Moriyama Nou-Shinkei Centre
    Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan

  • HO

    Hiromi Oowada, PhD

    Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Professor
    Sendai Seiyo Gakuin University
    Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

  • TK

    Tomoki Koseki, PhD

    Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
    Sendai Seiyo Gakuin University
    Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Objectives : A characteristic of the Pusher phenomenon is reported fear of falling toward the non-paralysed side. However, it remains unclear how the characteristics of this fear of falling vary according to the severity of the Pusher phenomenon, as measured by the Scale for Contraversive Pushing (SCP). The aim of this study is to analyse the fear of falling according to the severity of the Pusher phenomenon.

Design:

The subjects comprised 40 cases of right hemisphere stroke. These 40 cases were classified into two groups based on SCP assessment. Specifically, the Pusher positive group (SCP ≥ 1.75) was designated as Group A (n=26), while the Pusher tendency group (0 < SCP < 1.75) was designated as Group B (n=14).

 To assess fall fear, the examiner grasped both shoulders and slowly tilted the trunk toward the non-paralysed or paralysed side. On the non-paralysed side, a fear sensation at approximately 10°of tilt was scored as 1 point; a fear sensation between 10°and 30°was scored as 0.5 points. On the paretic side, a score of 1 point was assigned if no fear was felt even when tilted significantly (indifference). Statistical analysis employed the unpaired t-test or Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: Fear of falling during seated trunk tilt towards the non-paralysed side Group A scored 0.59, Group B 0.28. The Pusher positive group showed higher values (p< 0.01). Meanwhile, for leaning towards the paralysed side and indifference, Group A scored 0.65, Group B 0. 60, showing no significant difference.

Conclusion:

These results revealed that Group A exhibited resistance to postural correction towards the non-paralysed side, while showing indifference to falls towards the paralysed side. Conversely, in Group B indifference towards the paralysed side was more pronounced than fear of non-paralysed side tilting.