Background
Physical therapy (PT) is one of the key disciplines in interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation. The aim of this systematic review was to provide an update of the evidence for stroke rehabilitation interventions in the domain of PT.

/pdf/what-is-the-evidence-for-physical-therapy-poststroke-a-9oycnv3dy7.pdf

What is the evidence for physical therapy poststroke? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Published version made available following 12 month embargo from the date of publication [12 Feb 2015] according to publisher policy. Accessed 10/03/2015. Published version available from 13 February 2016.

/pdf/virtual-reality-for-stroke-rehabilitation-4evwp7ler3.pdf

Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation

THIS IS NOT THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF THIS PROTOCOL please see: http://hdl.handle.net/2328/39189 Copyright © 2011 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This review is made available in accordance with Cochrane
Database of Systematic Review's repositories policy

/pdf/virtual-reality-for-stroke-rehabilitation-review-1d29rullyx.pdf

Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation (review)

In the United States, the incidence rate of new or recurrent stroke is approximately 795 000 per year, and stroke prevalence for individuals over the age of 20 years is estimated at 6.5 million.1 Mortality rates in the first 30 days after stroke have decreased because of advances in emergency medicine and acute stroke care. In addition, there is strong evidence that organized postacute, inpatient stroke care delivered within the first 4 weeks by an interdisciplinary healthcare team results in an absolute reduction in the number of deaths.2,3 Despite these positive achievements, stroke continues to represent the leading cause of long-term disability in Americans: An estimated 50 million stroke survivors worldwide currently cope with significant physical, cognitive, and emotional deficits, and 25% to 74% of these survivors require some assistance or are fully dependent on caregivers for activities of daily living (ADLs).4,5

Notwithstanding the substantial progress in acute stroke care over the past 15 years, the focus of stroke medical advances and healthcare resources has been on acute and subacute recovery phases, which has resulted in substantial health disparities in later phases of stroke care. Additionally, healthcare providers (HCPs) are often unaware of not only patients’ potential for improvement during more chronic recovery phases but also common issues that stroke survivors and their caregivers experience. Furthermore, even with evidence that documents neuroplasticity potential regardless of age and time after stroke,6 the mean lifetime cost of ischemic stroke (which accounts for 87% of all strokes) in the United States is an estimated $140 000 (for inpatient, rehabilitation, and follow-up costs), with 70% of first-year stroke costs attributed to acute inpatient hospital care1; therefore, fewer financial resources appear to be dedicated to providing optimal care during the later phases of stroke recovery.

Because there remains a …

Comprehensive Overview of Nursing and Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Care of the Stroke Patient A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Stroke is one of the leading causes for disability worldwide. Motor function deficits due to stroke affect the patients’ mobility, their limitation in daily life activities, their participation in society and their odds of returning to professional activities. All of these factors contribute to a low overall quality of life. Rehabilitation training is the most effective way to reduce motor impairments in stroke patients. This multiple systematic review focuses both on standard treatment methods and on innovating rehabilitation techniques used to promote upper extremity motor function in stroke patients. A total number of 5712 publications on stroke rehabilitation was systematically reviewed for relevance and quality with regards to upper extremity motor outcome. This procedure yielded 270 publications corresponding to the inclusion criteria of the systematic review. Recent technology-based interventions in stroke rehabilitation including non-invasive brain stimulation, robot-assisted training and virtual reality immersion are addressed. Finally, a decisional tree based on evidence from the literature and characteristics of stroke patients is proposed. At present, the stroke rehabilitation field faces the challenge to tailor evidence-based treatment strategies to the needs of the individual stroke patient. Interventions can be combined in order to achieve the maximal motor function recovery for each patient. Though the efficacy of some interventions may be under debate, motor skill learning and some new technological approaches give promising outcome prognosis in stroke motor rehabilitation.

/pdf/rehabilitation-of-motor-function-after-stroke-a-multiple-5abvu0mwtg.pdf

Rehabilitation of Motor Function after Stroke: A Multiple Systematic Review Focused on Techniques to Stimulate Upper Extremity Recovery.

https://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993(05)00411-9/pdf

Cortical Reorganization and Associated Functional Motor Recovery After Virtual Reality in Patients With Chronic Stroke: An Experimenter-Blind Preliminary Study

Chong-Mi Park

Papers

Cortical Reorganization and Associated Functional Motor Recovery After Virtual Reality in Patients With Chronic Stroke: An Experimenter-Blind Preliminary Study