[Evidence-based methods in the clinical practice in updated Swedish national stroke guidelines]

Stroke rehabilitation has often been based on tradition instead of evidence-based methods in the clinical practice. The recently updated Swedish national stroke guidelines have emphasized the amount of evidence-based stroke rehabilitation that is expected to be implemented in clinical practice. The most important recommendations in regarding stroke rehabilitation are the early support discharge, a structured follow-up at the subacute stage for identifying unmet rehabilitation needs and high intensity task-specific training from early to chronic phases.  Meanwhile, we have to use the resource in a most cost-effective ways, such as a newly developed Rehab-Compass, group education for patients and caregivers ("stroke school") and sufficient number of employees of different occupational groups including rehab-assistants, to provide stroke survivors more evidence-based rehabilitation. These inputs will not only improve quality of stroke care but also save the medical and community resource in the near future.