Physiological effects of exercise on stroke survivors

This study investigated the physiological responses of stroke survivors to a 16-week program of moderate aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

Forty participants who were a minimum of 6 months post stroke underwent physiological testing over the course of 2 days that included a maximal VO(2) stress test, a Biodex strength assessment, and a blood lipid panel. The participants were then randomly assigned to two groups, an aerobic training only (ATO) group and an aerobic and strength training (A&ST) group. Both groups were then required to exercise aerobically for 20 minutes for 3 days a week at a moderate intensity for 16 weeks. Only the A&ST group was required to do a series of eight strength-training activities as part of their exercise protocol. Once the 16-week protocol was completed, all tests were repeated. These results were compared to the pretest data.

Statistically significant changes in VO(2max) were noted in the A&ST group, while positive but not significant changes were noted in the ATO group. Both groups saw significant increases in knee flexion but not in knee extension. The A&ST group showed significant increases in both shoulder flexion and extension, while the ATO group only had significant increases in shoulder extension.

We concluded that aerobic exercise produced positive metabolic changes in both groups, but only the A&ST group had statistically significant changes. Both groups demonstrated significant changes in functional strength, but the A&ST group experienced larger increases, likely due to the strength component of their training protocol.