Methods |
Block RCT |
Participants |
Country: Australia Setting: unclear 24 participants Inclusion criteria: within 6 weeks of cortical stroke Exclusion criteria: none reported |
Interventions |
Intervention period 3 weeks daily Treatment group: task‐related training of upper limb emphasizing uni‐manual and bi‐manual functional activities Control group: exercises to improve postural control and concentration |
Outcomes |
Assessed pre, post, and at 3‐month follow‐up Motor Assessment Scale Chedoke McMaster Stroke Assessment Stroke Adapted 30‐item Sickness Impact Profile Manual dexterity Muscle strength Sensation hand |
Notes |
Attempted to contact authors for further details; authors declined to supply further details as they wanted to pursue further publications |
Risk of bias |
Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
Adequate sequence generation? |
Unclear risk |
Quote: "Subjects were recruited within six weeks of their first cortical stroke and randomly allocated to treatment (T) or control (C) intervention." Comment: sequence generation unspecified |
Allocation concealment? |
Unclear risk |
Quote: "Subjects were recruited within six weeks of their first cortical stroke and randomly allocated to treatment (T) or control (C) intervention." Comment: allocation concealment unspecified |
Blinding? All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Quote: none applicable Comment: no details provided of whether there was blinding or not in the study of any of participants, therapists or study peronnel |
Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Comment: appears all participants recruited so far have been accounted for, unclear if further participants were being recruited |
Free of selective reporting? |
Unclear risk |
Comment: not all results were provided in the summaries available to the review authors, not enough information was provided |
Free of other bias? |
Unclear risk |
Comment: the results of this study are interim only and results may differ on completion of study; unable to make a judgement at this time |