Weekend therapy may reduce length of stroke rehabilitation
Imagine you are in a rehabilitation facility after having a stroke. As the days tick by, naturally you would like to maximise this opportunity to improve your recovery. Most rehabilitation facilities only offer physiotherapy and occupational therapy on weekdays. However, a recent study has shown that the speed of recovery may be improved if therapy is also provided on the weekend.
Researchers from the University of Newcastle and La Trobe University have teamed up to pool two sets of raw data from their separate studies on this topic. The statistical methods to pool the data were complex but the results are important. When the raw data were pooled, no immediate effect was seen.
However, the authors also undertook adjustment for known confounders. When this more sophisticated analysis was complete, a clear effect was evident: additional therapy on the weekend shortened the length of stay in the rehabilitation facility by about 7 days, with the same amount of improvement achieved in walking speed and other measures of function and quality of life.
Want to read deeper into this topic? Have a look at the free full text version of this article published in Journal of Physiotherapy!
> From: English et al., J Physiother 62 (2016) 124-129. All rights reserved to he Australian Physiotherapy Association. Click here for the Pubmed summary.
