EXTRY! PT HELPS SURVIVORS RECOVER!

So here is a bit of good news: PT helps survivors recover. Which you woulda thought had already been proven, but here's some funny: Very little has been proven with rehab vis-à-vis stroke. And then there is the little problem of a pretty long tradition of clinicians in rehab deeply believing in therapies that, once examined in the light of well run research, looked very meh. And speaking of such...

This article reviewing the effectiveness of PT on stroke recovery is a gem (and not just because it references more than 10 articles on which I'm a co-author!). It doesn't just comment broadly on PT post-stroke, it nuances it. Some things work, some things don't. Guess what goes in the "doesn't work bin?" Guess. Here's a hint, this blog has said this for a long time... Like here. And here. Thats right...

NDT!

As the authors put it:

NDT has an unfavorable effect on length of stay, motor function (synergy), muscle strength of the arm, walking speed, spatiotemporal gait pattern functions like stride length, muscle tone, range of motion, balance, walking ability, arm-hand activities, and basic ADL. Insufficient evidence was found for NDT benefiting muscle strength of the leg, grip strength, muscle tone, brain activity, walking ability. 

But. The overall message of this article bodes well for PT and for survivors. Namely: There is strong evidence for PT interventions... in all phases poststroke.