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The effects of exercise intervention on cognition and motor function in stroke survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 February 2023

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Abstract

Background

Cognitive impairment was a common sequela among stroke survivors, and exercise intervention was a promising non-pharmacological treatment modality for it.

Purpose

To explore the effects of exercise intervention programs on cognitive and motor function in patients with cognitive impairment after stroke.

Study design

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods

Seven online databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, PsycInfo, and SPORTDiscus) were searched from their inception to 10 February 2022. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of exercise with non-exercise rehabilitation, using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination, Mini-Mental State Examination, Trial Making Test, Upper and Lower Extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Berg Balance Scale, and Barthel Index, were selected. Calculations for each assessment were performed for the overall effect and the therapy of interest, taking into account the effect of stroke severity or stimulus parameters.

Results

Twelve RCTs involving 975 participants and investigating nine different types of exercise interventions were included. The results were not affected by participant characteristics or reactive balance outcomes. Our results emphasise the importance of lightweight and operable aerobic exercises. Exercise itself had a high potential to improve cognitive impairment and motor function after stroke.

Conclusions

Exercise had significant positive effects on alleviating cognitive and motor impairments after stroke.

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Data availability

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, and further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

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Funding

This work was supported by the budget project of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Natural Science, Project No. 2021LK014.

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Author notes

  1. Wenxuan Li and Ziyan Luo contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Wenxuan Li

  2. School of Nursing, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, China

    Ziyan Luo, Jieting Jiang & Caiqin Wu

  3. School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, China

    Kunpeng Li

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  1. Wenxuan Li
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  2. Ziyan Luo
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Contributions

Wenxuan Li: investigation, data curation, formal analysis, and writing of the original draft; Ziyan Luo: investigation, data curation, and formal analysis; Jieting Jiang: formal analysis and data curation; Kunpeng Li: conceptualisation, methodology, data curation, writing, review, and editing; Caiqin Wu: conceptualisation, methodology, data curation, writing, review, editing, and supervision. All the authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of this work.

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Correspondence to Kunpeng Li or Caiqin Wu.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The article was originally published with error. The old version of figures 4, 6 and 8 were used during processing and the level of some headings was not correctly identified.

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Li, W., Luo, Z., Jiang, J. et al. The effects of exercise intervention on cognition and motor function in stroke survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurol Sci 44, 1891–1903 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-023-06636-9

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