Summers 2007

Methods	Randomised controlled trial Participants randomly allocated to 1 of 2 groups Method of randomisation and allocation concealment not stated
Participants	12 participants Inclusion criteria: first stoke at least 3 months prior to intervention, no multiple infarctions, most components of movement present in the affected extremity but impairment of function relative to unaffected side, intact cognitive functions, no other neurological disorders
Interventions	Group 1 (6 participants): unilateral Group 2 (6 participants): bilateral Participants performed 50 training trials of a dowel placement task (lifting a wooden dowel from table and placing it on a shelf) and 2 warm‐up reaching trials during each session 6 sessions completed over a period of 6 days Profession of individual administering training not reported
Outcomes	Primary outcome: functional movement ‐ arm functional movement: Modified Motor Assessment Scale upper arm function and combined upper limb movements (upper arm function scores used for analysis); hand functional movement: Modified Motor Assessment scale hand movements and advanced hand movements (hand movement scores used for analysis) Secondary outcome: motor impairment ‐ temporal outcomes: movement time and velocity profile (movement time selected); spatial outcomes: elbow angle and curvature of arm trajectories (elbow angle selected) TMS recorded but not relevant to this review
Notes	SD for bilateral group equals 0 for upper arm function on Modified Motor Assessment Scale, therefore effect size not estimable Imputed control group SD to allow for statistical pooling No SD presented for movement kinematics and therefore unsuitable for inclusion in statistical pooling 2 participants excluded from movement time and elbow angle analysis due to technical difficulties within the trial
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	Not stated
Blinding of outcome assessor?	Low risk	Blinded to assignment of participants (for completion of motor assessment scale) Unclear if blinded for assessment of movement time and elbow angle outcomes
Intention to treat analysis?	Unclear risk	No mention of ITT
Baseline similarity	High risk	Similar on variables of age, sex and affected side Group 2 mean 6.3 years post‐stroke, compared with Group 1 mean of 4.0 years

AMPS: Assessment of Motor and Process Skills ARAT: Action Research Arm Test BATRAC: bilateral training with auditory cueing BBT: box and block test CT: computerised tomography CVA: cerebrovascular accident DMTE: dose matched therapeutic exercises EMG: electromyogram fMRI: functional MRI ITT: intention‐to‐treat MMSE: Mimi Mental State Examination MRI: magnetic resonance imaging ms: metres per second RCT: randomised controlled trial ROM: range of movement SD: standard deviation SE: standard error SEM: standard error of the mean TEMPA: upper extremity performance test for the elderly TMS: transcranial magnetic stimulation WMAT: Wolf Motor Arm Test WMFT: Wolf Motor Function Test