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Review
. 2024 Jul 18;12(14):1433.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare12141433.

Recommendations for Upper Limb Motor Recovery: An Overview of the UK and European Rehabilitation after Stroke Guidelines (2023)

Daniel O'Flaherty  1 , Khalid Ali  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Recommendations for Upper Limb Motor Recovery: An Overview of the UK and European Rehabilitation after Stroke Guidelines (2023)

Daniel O'Flaherty et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Upper limb impairment is common after stroke, with a significant impact on the stroke survivor's function, social participation and quality of life. Clinical guidelines are needed to inform clinical practise, tailor interventions to improve outcomes and address unresolved research questions. This review contributes to the evidence guiding clinical practise for upper limb motor recovery after stroke by summarising the recommendations from the UK rehabilitation guidelines (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party (ISWP)) and the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) guidelines, all published in 2023. All three guidelines target researchers, clinical practitioners, stroke survivors and their social networks. An important feature in all three guidelines was therapeutic intensity, with all guidelines recommending increased therapeutic intensity. Unlike the ESO, the NICE and ISWP additionally include specific research recommendations. While the NICE guidelines seem more holistic and target a wider audience, the three guidelines are complimentary. We recommend that a future consensus statement should be developed in partnership between all three organisations, agreeing on scope and using the same terminology, on recommendations to improve stroke rehabilitation in the UK and Europe.

Keywords: arm; guidelines; motor recovery; motor rehabilitation; review; stroke; upper limb.

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Conflict of interest statement

Khalid Ali was a committee member of both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party (ISWP). The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Impact of upper limb impairment after stroke according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) model. Abbreviations: activities of daily living (ADLs) [29].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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