Intensive aerobic exercise twice weekly early in subacute mild stroke improved aerobic capacity, walking, balance, health-related quality of life, and patient-reported recovery.

Objective To investigate the effects of in-bed cycle exercise in addition to usual care in patients with acute stroke, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) 7-42, regarding walking ability, functional outcomes, and inpatient care days. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Hospital care. Participants Patients (N=56) with stroke NIHSS 7-42 were recruited 24-48 hours after stroke onset from 2 stroke units in Sweden. Interventions Both groups received usual care. The intervention group also received 20 minutes bed cycling 5 days per week with a maximum of 15 sessions. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome was median change in walking ability measured with the 6-minute walk test (6MWT). Secondary outcome measures included the median change in modified Rankin Scale (mRS), Barthel Index (BI) for activities of daily living, and inpatient care days. Measurements were performed at baseline, post intervention (3 weeks), and at 3-month follow-up. Results There was no significant difference in change of walking ability (6MWT) from baseline to follow-up between the intervention and control groups (median, 105m [interquartile range [IQR, 220m] vs 30m [IQR, 118m], respectively, P =.147, d =0.401). There were no significant differences between groups regarding mRS, BI, or inpatient care days. Patients with less serious stroke (NIHSS 7-12) seemed to benefit from the intervention. Conclusion Although this study may have been underpowered, patients with stroke NIHSS 7-42 did not benefit from in-bed cycle exercise in addition to usual care after acute stroke. A larger study is needed to confirm our results.

The prevalence of an exaggerated exercise blood pressure (BP) response is unknown in patients with subacute stroke, and it is not known whether an aerobic exercise program modulates this response. The authors randomized 53 patients (27 women) with subacute stroke to 12 weeks of twice-weekly aerobic exercise (n = 29) or to usual care without scheduled physical exercise (n = 24). At baseline, 66% of the patients exhibited an exaggerated exercise BP response (peak systolic BP ≥210 mm Hg in men and ≥190 mm Hg in women) during a symptom-limited ergometer exercise test. At followup, patients who had been randomized to the exercise program achieved higher peak work rate, but peak systolic BP remained unaltered. Among patients with a recent stroke, it was common to have an exaggerated systolic BP response during exercise.This response was not altered by participation in a 12-week program of aerobic exercise.

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