Introduction: Despite the benefits of physical activity reported, most stroke survivors remain physically inactive, regardless of the level of disability. The objectives of this study were to investigate barriers and associated factors for the practice of physical activity after stroke. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with acute stroke survivors with walking speed ≥ 0.8m/s. Clinical outcomes were Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale, 5-meter walk test, Geriatric Depression Scale, a questionnaire derived from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Economic Classification Criteria. Linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between variables. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the UFMG (CAAE: 65672517.6.0000.5149). Results: 95 stroke individuals, with a mean age of 62 years (SD12) and time since stroke of 4 months (SD 0.8) participated. The most frequently reported barriers were “tiredness” (76%) and “fatigue” (72%), followed by “few places to exercise”, “difficulty accessing sites to exercise”, “time spent”, “difficulty of task” and “high cost” that were scored by more than 40% of participants. Barriers were associated with socioeconomic level (r = -0.21, p <0.05) and depressive symptoms (r = 0.32, p <0.01). Both explained 9% of the variance of the barriers (p <0.01). Conclusions: Tiredness/Fatigue was the greatest barrier to perform physical activity after stroke. Depression and socioeconomic level were associated to barriers. Rehabilitation intervention focused in increasing fitness and reducing tiredness/fatigue through continuous practice of physical activity should be implemented. In addition, the approach to depressive symptoms should be taken into account for better results.

Socio-demographic and clinical profile of individuals who return to work after stroke