In Chronic cases of hemiplegia following cerebrovascular disorders, it has been commonly accepted that the skin temperature on the affected side is lower than that of the normal side.
However, there has been no report regarding changes of the skin temperture before and after a long-term rehabilitation.
In this study, skin temperature of the lower legs before and after a long-term rehabilitation was measured in 21 normal subjects and in 53 patients with hemiplegia lasting over a month from the onset of cerebrovascular disorders.
Although the skin temperture of the lower legs in 21 normal subjects showed almost no difference between the two legs, that of hemiplegic patients was lower on the affected side and it was extremely lower in patinets with moderate or advanced hemiplegia. In the hemiplegic patients with moderate or advanced muscle atrophy on the affected side, the drop of skin temperature on that side was larger than that of the patients with no or sligit muscle atrophy.
In the hemiplegic patients who showed a moderate or marked improvement of the walking ability after rehabilitatlon, the skin temperature on both legs had been considerably lower than that of the patients who showed no or slight improvement of the walking ability before the rehabilitation. However it increased remarkably after the rehabilitation so that there was no significant differences of the skin temperature between the two groups of patients.