Intensive Exercise Helps Stroke Survivors Recover Motor Skills

As more people survive strokes, the need for better ways of rehabilitation increases. In a pilot study published in this month's Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers show that an intensive post-stroke exercise program can help stroke survivors recover their motor skills.

Twenty stroke survivors in the pilot study were divided into two groups of 10 to participate in exercise programs -- one very intensive and the other less intensive. All had a stroke 30 to 90 days before the start of the study and had completed in-hospital rehabilitation. Participants in the less-intensive program were the control group. The two programs differed in the type of exercise required. For example, members of the control group did balance and resistance exercises, but did not participate in any endurance-building exercises.

The more intensive program was comprised of a therapist-supervised, eight-week, three-times-per-week, home-based exercise program designed to help increase the balance, strength and endurance of the stroke survivors. Researchers found that those on the more intense, home-based exercise program showed greater improvement in motor skills than those on the less intensive program. The researchers used several known motor function measurement scales to determine their results.