Determining Safe Participation in Aerobic Exercise Early After Stroke Through a Graded Submaximal Exercise Test.

Objective: The benefits of aerobic exercise early after stroke are well known, but concerns about cardiovascular risk are a barrier to clinical implementation. Symptom-limited exercise testing with electrocardiography (ECG) is recommended but not always feasible. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of and corresponding exercise intensities at which ECG abnormalities occurred during submaximal exercise testing that would limit safe exercise prescription beyond those intensities.

Does Perturbation-Based Balance Training Improve Control of Reactive Stepping in Individuals with Chronic Stroke?

Background: Although perturbation-based balance training (PBT) may be effective in improving reactive balance control and/or reducing fall risk in individuals with stroke, the characteristics of reactive balance responses that improve following PBT have not yet been identified. This study aimed to determine if reactive stepping characteristics and timing in response to support-surface perturbations improved to a greater extent following PBT, compared to traditional balance training.

Materials And Methods: This study represents a substudy of a multisite randomized controlled trial.

Does perturbation-based balance training prevent falls among individuals with chronic stroke? A randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: No intervention has been shown to prevent falls poststroke. We aimed to determine if perturbation-based balance training (PBT) can reduce falls in daily life among individuals with chronic stroke.

Design: Assessor-blinded randomised controlled trial.

Characterization of Reactions to Laterally Directed Perturbations in People With Chronic Stroke.

Background: Reactive balance control is often impaired poststroke. Studies addressing responses to laterally directed perturbations in this population are currently lacking. Given that stroke-related motor impairments are unilateral, a better understanding of reactive balance responses to these types of perturbations is critical.

Consumer Wearable Devices for Activity Monitoring Among Individuals After a Stroke: A Prospective Comparison.

Background: Activity monitoring is necessary to investigate sedentary behavior after a stroke. Consumer wearable devices are an attractive alternative to research-grade technology, but measurement properties have not been established.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of 2 wrist-worn fitness trackers: Fitbit Charge HR (FBT) and Garmin Vivosmart (GAR).

Validation of simplified centre of mass models during gait in individuals with chronic stroke.

Background: The feasibility of using a multiple segment (full-body) kinematic model in clinical gait assessment is difficult when considering obstacles such as time and cost constraints. While simplified gait models have been explored in healthy individuals, no such work to date has been conducted in a stroke population. The aim of this study was to quantify the errors of simplified kinematic models for chronic stroke gait assessment.

Promoting Optimal Physical Exercise for Life (PROPEL): aerobic exercise and self-management early after stroke to increase daily physical activity-study protocol for a stepped-wedge randomised trial.

Introduction: Physical exercise after stroke is essential for improving recovery and general health, and reducing future stroke risk. However, people with stroke are not sufficiently active on return to the community after rehabilitation. We developed the Promoting Optimal Physical Exercise for Life (PROPEL) programme, which combines exercise with self-management strategies within rehabilitation to promote ongoing physical activity in the community after rehabilitation.

Does Perturbation Training Prevent Falls after Discharge from Stroke Rehabilitation? A Prospective Cohort Study with Historical Control.

Background: Individuals with stroke fall frequently, and no exercise intervention has been shown to prevent falls post stroke. Perturbation-based balance training (PBT), which involves practicing reactions to instability, shows promise for preventing falls in older adults and individuals with Parkinson's disease. This study aimed to determine if PBT during inpatient stroke rehabilitation can prevent falls after discharge into the community.

Can augmented feedback facilitate learning a reactive balance task among older adults?

While concurrent augmented visual feedback of the center of pressure (COP) or center of gravity (COG) can improve quiet standing balance control, it is not known whether such feedback improves reactive balance control. Additionally, it is not known whether feedback of the COP or COG is superior. This study aimed to determine whether (1) concurrent augmented feedback can improve reactive balance control, and (2) feedback of the COP or COG is more effective.

Perturbation training to promote safe independent mobility post-stroke: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Falls are one of the most common medical complications post-stroke. Physical exercise, particularly exercise that challenges balance, reduces the risk of falls among healthy and frail older adults. However, exercise has not proven effective for preventing falls post-stroke.