Key barriers
Paul George, MD, PhD, a stroke and vascular neurologist at Stanford (Calif.) University, said findings such as these further strengthen the argument that physical exercise is important after stroke.
“Because the study looked specifically at stroke patients, it can provide further guidance on physical activity recommendations that we provide to our patients following stroke,” said Dr. George, who was not associated with the study.
Going forward, he said, more research is needed to identify specifically what is preventing stroke patients from exercising more. What is required, he said, is “future research to determine the key barriers to physical activity following stroke and methods to reduce these will also be important to increasing physical activity in stroke survivors.”
Dr. Joundi said determining how to tailor exercise recommendations to meet the wide range of capabilities of stroke survivors will be another key factor.
“Stroke survivors may have some disabilities, so we need to be able to engage them at an [exercise] level that’s possible for them,” he said.
The study did not include stroke survivors living in long-term care homes.
The study had no targeted funding. Coauthor Eric E. Smith, MD, MPH, reports royalties from UpToDate, and consulting fees from Alnylam, Biogen, and Javelin. Dr. Joundi and the other coauthors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.