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Updated: Mar 17, 2026
A Rehabilitation Program of Exoskeleton-assisted Body Weight-Supported Treadmill Training with Non-immersive Virtual Reality for Stroke Patients
Published on: May 16, 2025
Stroke Recovery Program Incorporating Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Exercise Provides Sustained Improvement of Function:
Sara J Cuccurullo1,2,3, Hayk Petrosyan1,2,3, Lora J Kasselman4
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Hackensack Meridian Health, Edison, NJ.
Objective:
To evaluate the 1-year long-term functional improvements and sustainability of a comprehensive stroke recovery program (SRP) administered early in the subacute phase of recovery compared with stroke survivors who received usual care.
Design:
A prospective matched cohort study.
Setting:
Academic medical center with inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facilities.
Participants:
A total of 236 patients (N=236) with stroke admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility were included in this study. Of these, 152 participated in the SRP, and 84 patients received usual care therapies.
Interventions:
Outpatient rehabilitation program including 36 sessions of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and risk factor education administered in addition to usual care therapies.
Main Outcome Measures:
Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) scores for Basic Mobility (BM), Daily Activity (DA), and Applied Cognitive (AC) were collected at admission and discharge from the hospital, at 30, 60, 90, 120 days after stroke, and 6-month and 12-month long-term follow-ups.
Results:
The mixed effects linear regression model revealed a significant interaction effect between the intervention and time across all 3 functional domains (P<.001 each for BM, DA, AC). At the 1-year follow-up assessment, the mean score for AM-PAC BM was 61.5±10.7 for the SRP group compared with 55.1±15.5 in the control group (P<.001), 58.0±17.4 vs 52.7±17.5 for AM-PAC DA (P=.032), and 49.4±11.5 vs 44.5±12.4 for AM-PAC AC scores (P=.225), respectively.
Conclusions:
An early outpatient comprehensive stroke rehabilitation program, including aerobic exercise and stroke risk factor education within the first 6 months of stroke, not only demonstrated functional improvements after the program but was able to achieve sustained functional improvements in mobility, self-care, and cognitive ability at 1 year. Improving the long-term function of stroke survivors promotes functional independence.
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