Being deliberate in postacute stroke: strategies to redeem the time

Abstract

Physical rehabilitation post stroke is key to minimizing impairments, restoring functional mobility, and returning individuals to their life roles. The reimbursable time allotted to attain those goals in the current health care environment is limited and is not projected to increase. It is critical, therefore, for rehabilitation professionals to re-evaluate how they use their limited time with clients. Repetition is the foundation for changes in representational organization of the motor cortex and for motor skill learning. Drawing from animal and human motor learning literature as well as completed clinical trials, we delineate strategies that can be implemented with individual patients to most prudently redeem the time spent with them and to best steward their recovery.

Keywords: exercise; physical therapy; practice; rehabilitation; stroke.