Evidence behind stroke rehabilitation

troke is a common and serious condition for which there is no routinely available curative treatment.Because of the high burden of disability and the lack of a widely applicable medical treatment, much of post-stroke care relies upon rehabilitation interventions.This article will discuss the evidence behind stroke rehabilitation interventions.but before doing so we need to define some terminology.Rehabilitation has a rather non-specific definition: ''a problem solving process aiming at reducing the disability and handicap resulting from a disease''.In this article we will use a broad definition of rehabilitation, which includes any general aspect of stroke care (generally non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical interventions) that aims to reduce disability and handicap (that is, promote activity and participation).This definition avoids an artificial splitting of early (often termed ''acute'') and later (''rehabilitation'') care; rehabilitation interventions are relevant from the onset of symptoms.The main focus will be on evidence about treatments as these are the most common questions posed by clinicians.