Approximately 795,000 people experience a stroke annually, and 60%, or approximately 465,000 of those require some type of rehabilitation. Not all strokes are created equal, they are as unique as the patients who experience them. During the acute hospitalization, families are searching for predictive signs of recovery, and as nurses we want to provide them that support. Unfortunately, it is not often plausible to predict the recovery trajectory that any stroke patient will take. What we do know is that, with timely interventions, we are seeing improved outcomes, although complete recovery may not be possible. The rehabilitation goal is to improve quality of life, attaining independence, along with facilitating and encouraging family and community participation.

Minimizing physical impairment and facilitating functional recovery following stroke is the most important target of managing patients with acute stroke. There is accumulating evidence of enhanced plasticity, such as alterations of gene expression, inhibitory/excitatory synaptic input balance, and structural changes including synaptogenesis, which occur immediately after stroke.Task-specific motor training that is initiated soon after stroke facilitates the reorganization of connections in a sensitive manner, which reportedly induces dramatic recovery if residual motor cortical areas are spared. Thus, motion-focused training during the early phase of post-stroke may prove to be a promising intervention to increase the resolution of impairment in a proportional manner in patients with stroke.There are still several challenges associated with making an acute stroke rehabilitation protocol.

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Editorial Team
Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Brussels, Belgium