Implementing HIT as Standard of Care During Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation

T. George Hornby, Chris Henderson, Jenni Moore, Jan Nordvik, Anne Erichsen, Ingvild Rosseland

Short description:

Following stroke, individuals frequently have not only deficits in walking function, but also exhibit other impairment and activity limitations. As a result, conventional post-stroke rehabilitation distributes efforts across a range of interventions and generally provides limited amounts of practice for any single task. Conversely, current evidence suggests that providing substantial amounts of stepping practice, specifically at high cardiovascular intensities, can improve locomotor function early post-stroke. The purpose of this presentation is to delineate a 39-month HIT implementation project involving 657 individuals participating in acute inpatient stroke rehabilitation and the subsequent positive effects HIT had on not only locomotor, but also non-locomotor outcomes.