Cardiovascular stress during a contemporary stroke rehabilitation program: is the intensity adequate to induce a training effect?

Abstract

To investigate the level of cardiovascular stress of physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) sessions of a contemporary stroke rehabilitation program and to identify therapeutic activities that elicit heart rate responses adequate to induce a training effect. A descriptive, longitudinal study with heart rate and activity monitoring of PT and OT sessions at biweekly intervals, 2 to 14 weeks poststroke. An acute inpatient stroke unit and inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation units. A consecutive sample of 20 patients with ischemic stroke who participated in inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation. Observation of routine PT and OT sessions for patients poststroke without influencing the extent and content of the sessions. Time per session in which heart rate was within the calculated target heart rate zone. Time per PT session spent in target heart rate zone was low (2.8+/-0.9 min), and per OT session was negligible (0.7+/-0.2 min) over the course of rehabilitation. The PT and OT sessions between 2 and 14 weeks poststroke did not elicit adequate cardiovascular stress to induce a training effect.