Aerobic exercise in chronic stroke

In this study of 60 chronic stroke patients, researchers examined the cardiorespiratory effects of a forced-cadence aerobic exercise intervention, compared to a control group doing upper limb training. Participants underwent either 24 sessions of aerobic exercise, followed by upper limb training, or upper limb training only. The aerobic exercise group showed a significantly greater improvement in peak VO2 and anaerobic threshold, compared with the upper limb training-only group. This result was not affected by age, gender, BMI or beta-blocker treatment.