Objective: To investigate whether early aerobic training has a beneficial effect on stroke patients' independence in daily and social activities six months after the event.
Design: Randomized clinical trial.
Setting: Rehabilitation unit.
Subjects: Ninety-two patients after a first stroke.
Interventions: Forty-six patients participated in an eight-week programme of aerobic training, using a leg cycle ergometer.
Main outcome measures: Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) measured twice, at entry to programme (pre-event score) and six months after the onset of the event.
Results: Despite the significant improvement of study group patients' functional abilities immediately after the intervention compared with controls, no significant difference was found in FAI mean score between groups six months post event. An interaction effect was noted between event severity, intervention and FAI total score. Mean FAI score declined significantly less in the less severely impaired study group patients.
Conclusions: Early, moderately intense aerobic training has no direct impact on independence in daily and social activities as measured by FAI total score six months after a stroke.