Stroke Health Center

Stroke Rehab: Home Exercise as Good as Rehab Facility

Treadmill Training vs. Home Exercise continued...

"If you looked at what typical walking speed is for an older adult, it really is around 2 miles per hour or faster, so that's really achieving what age norms would be," Linder says.

At walking speeds less than a mile an hour, Linder says, it's hard to do basic thinks like cross a street before traffic lights change.

All groups also had similar improvements in motor recovery, balance, functional status, and quality of life.

There were slightly more falls and adverse events in the treadmill exercisers, though the rates were low across all groups.

One major difference between groups was the retention rate.

There were fewer dropouts in the home-based program; just 3% in that group stopped their exercise, compared to 13% in the early treadmill training group and 17% in late treadmill training arm.

"It is highly encouraging that they're more compliant, more adherent," says Libman. "Lots of people would go home if they could choose to."