Background: Gait deficits and functional disability are persistent problems for many stroke survivors, even after standard neurorehabilitation. There is little quantified information regarding the trajectories of response to a long-dose, 12-month intervention.
Objective: We quantified treatment response to an intensive neurorehabilitation mobility and fitness program.
Methods: The 12-month neurorehabilitation program targeted impairments in balance, limb coordination, gait coordination, and functional mobility, for five chronic stroke survivors. We obtained measures of those variables every two months.
Results: We found statistically and clinically significant group improvement in measures of impairment and function. There was high variation across individuals in terms of the timing and the gains exhibited.
Conclusions: Long-duration neurorehabilitation (12 months) for mobility/fitness produced clinically and/or statistically significant gains in impairment and function. There was unique pattern of change for each individual. Gains exhibited late in the treatment support a 12-month intervention. Some measures for some subjects did not reach a plateau at 12 months, justifying further investigation of a longer program (>12 months) of rehabilitation and/or maintenance care for stroke survivors.
Keywords: Stroke; balance; coordination; functional mobility; gait; gait speed; quality of life.