Examining Clinical Practice Guidelines for Exercise and Physical Activity as Part of Rehabilitation for People with Stroke: A Systematic Review

Gavin Church, Ali Ali, Christine Leslie Smith, Dave Broom, Karen Sage

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)
    21 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Background: Stroke is the leading cause of chronic physical disability in Western industrialised nations. Despite clear guidelines for exercise in individuals with many non-communicable diseases, the guidance for people with stroke (PwS) who frequently present with multiple comorbidities is less clear. A systematic review of exercise guidelines was undertaken to synthesise themes and patterns. Methods: The review was completed according to the PRISMA statement. Guideline-specific databases were searched for worldwide clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). All included papers underwent quality assessment using the AGREE II protocol. Content synthesis and analysis of the guidelines was undertaken using CERT. Results: Searching identified 2184 papers. After duplicate removal and screening by title and abstract, 22 CPGs remained for review. Seven guidelines identified three key roles for exercise interventions: (1) promoting a healthy lifestyle, (2) prevention of further strokes and (3) rehabilitation. Of concern, many CPGs fail to recommend appropriate safety measures and standards, pre-, during and post-exercise or tailor for specific needs. Conclusions: Global guidelines for exercise in PwS lack in-depth and technical information on the exercise delivery methods, application and dosage required to progress exercise interventions for PwS.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1707
    Number of pages19
    JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
    Volume19
    Issue number3
    Early online date2 Feb 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Feb 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
    This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
    conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
    creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

    Funder


    Funding: Gavin Church is funded by Health Education England (HEE)/National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on a Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow (NIHR300426).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Keywords

    • Exercise
    • Guidelines
    • Stroke
    • Systematic

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Pollution
    • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
    • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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