Treadmill Exercise Benefits Stroke Survivors

It is known that people who suffer strokes often have difficulty walking, which in turn leads to deconditioning and decreased fitness. According to a study published online in the journal Stroke, exercising on a treadmill increases fitness and may improve brain function in stroke patients.

Researchers from Switzerland and their colleagues at John Hopkins University and the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center compared the brain and physical function of 37 stroke patients who worked on a treadmill three times a week with 34 stroke patients who performed traditional stretching exercises. After six months, the researchers compared the patients, and found that those who exercised on a treadmill had better cardiovascular fitness and walking speed. The treadmill patients also showed evidence of increased blood flow and oxygen delivery to certain parts of the brain.

Perhaps the most interesting fact was that those participating in the study had suffered a stroke over four years earlier, suggesting that improvement can occur long after a stroke. This is a promising find which could change the way doctors manage stroke patients, leading to improvements in their fitness and quality of life. “It would suggest that we’ve underestimated how much people can improve,” asserted one of the authors, Dr. Daniel F. Hanley, a neurology professor at Johns Hopkins.