Stroke rehabilitation: patient activity during non-therapy time.

Since practice is a crucial variable in motor learning, this study aimed to quantify the level of motor activity during inpatient stroke rehabilitation and to investigate the relationship between level of motor ability with performance of motor activity. Seventeen stroke patients were observed on nine weekdays in a fast-stream rehabilitation hospital. The results showed that for two-thirds of the day, patients were not involved in structured therapy and that for half of these observations, the patients were not engaged in motor activities. There was a positive correlation (rho=0.68, p<0.05) between patients' performance of motor activity and a total Functional Independence Measure score. It appears that strategies are required so that, regardless of the level of disability, patients can be practising at an appropriate level.