Motor Function, Functional Recovery, and Post-Stroke Complications After Severe Stroke: A Systematic Review Update

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who treat people with severe stroke in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, or hospital-based neurologic programs, along with clinicians who follow the stroke rehabilitation literature and want a clear account of where the evidence currently stands.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants working in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and neurologic practice settings.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

Roesner K, Scheffler B, Kaehler M, Schmidt-Maciejewski B, Boettger T, Saal S. Effects of physical therapy modalities for motor function, functional recovery, and post-stroke complications in patients with severe stroke: a systematic review update. Syst Rev. 2024;13(1):270. doi:10.1186/s13643-024-02676-0. PMID: 39468642. PMCID: PMC11520505.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42021244285.

This course reports the content of that publication only. No claims, figures, or recommendations are added from outside the source.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe the population, setting, and range of physical therapy interventions covered by this systematic review update of severe stroke rehabilitation.
2. State the overall certainty of the evidence the review reported and the direction of the authors' main conclusion about effectiveness.
3. Name the reporting gaps the authors identified — description of usual care, therapy dose, and definition of stroke severity — and explain why they limited comparison across studies.

1. Start Here: How This Course Works
2. Podcast: Severe Stroke Rehabilitation Under the Microscope (about nine minutes)
3. Severe Stroke in the Hospital: What the Review Set Out to Answer
4. How the Review Was Built: Searching, Screening, and Judging Quality
5. What the Trials Reported Across Twenty Interventions
6. Why the Certainty Stayed Low: Bias, Small Trials, and Undescribed Usual Care
7. Therapy Dose, Documentation, and What the Authors Say Comes Next
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. Roesner K, Scheffler B, Kaehler M, Schmidt-Maciejewski B, Boettger T, Saal S. Effects of physical therapy modalities for motor function, functional recovery, and post-stroke complications in patients with severe stroke: a systematic review update. Syst Rev. 2024;13(1):270. doi:10.1186/s13643-024-02676-0. PMID: 39468642. PMCID: PMC11520505.
2. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42021244285.
3. This course reports the content of that publication only. No claims, figures, or recommendations are added from outside the source.