Clinical exercise trial for stroke patients.

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of the traditional and facilitation approaches to therapeutic exercise in stroke patients. A total of 42 adults (24 men and 18 women) with a mean age of 61.6 years (SD = 21) were selected from a larger population of hospitalized stroke victims. Stroke patients were classified by CT scan information and judged medically fit to participate in a nonrestrictive program by neurologic examinations and laboratory tests. The Barthel Index and the manual muscle test were administered at admission and discharge. Both facilitation and traditional exercise therapies improved functional and motor performance, but there were no significant differences between these approaches. The lack of differences between the facilitation and traditional exercise therapies may be due to heterogeneity of the stroke population, the small sample size, and the measurements used. The study demonstrates the need for a measurement instrument capable of reliably assessing the facilitation approach. Future investigations should incorporate lesion type, site, and side along with global measurements in evaluating differences among motor remediation approaches.