Zhu 2006.

Study characteristics
Methods	Study design: RCT Method of randomisation: "Randomised according to the time of hospital admission"
Participants	Number of participants: n = 70 Inclusion criteria: "Ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, confirmed by CT or MRI scan as first ever stroke, aged between 55‐80 years old, functional deficit of limbs, no severe cognitive issues, no severe diseases of the heart liver, kidney and other organs, within 1 week of being medically stable and Glasgow Coma Scale > 8"
Interventions	(1) Test group (n = 35) "Both groups of patients received the same drug therapy, including treatment for cerebral edema, brain care and improving blood circulation. 3 – 7 days after becoming medically stable, the test group underwent rehabilitative therapy using Bobath technique, Rood technique, as well as ADL training, etc, with training conducted by rehabilitation nurses, rehabilitative therapy once a day, 1 hr each time, 5 times a week" "The contents were as follows: Physiotherapy: (i) On‐bed positioning of healthy limbs, with regular turning over; (ii) Passive ranging exercises of joints of limbs on affected side, including passive ranging exercise of scapular, motion progressing from proximal joints to distal joints, range of motion progressed from small to large, within pain‐free thresholds, while concurrently, patients were encouraged to use healthy limbs to aid motion of affected limbs, for example exercise involving crossing both sides and lifting, lower limbs bridge‐style exercise; (iii) Utilising Rood technique to brush, tap, pat etc arbitrary exercises to stimulate affected limbs; (iv) Sitting exercise involving lifting headrest, headrest gradually lifted, maintaining each position 30min, repeating training with 10 degree increments until able to sit upright at bedside; (v) Bedside sitting balance training: correct sitting posture, starting from static balance to dynamic balance training, torso back‐and‐forth, side‐to‐side and rotation training, and finally training of maintaining balance while being pushed externally; (vi) Sit‐to‐stand balance training, patients holding hands Bobath‐style, extending upper limbs, head and torso leaning forward, moving center‐of‐gravity forward, torso, hip and knee extending until standing, during standing process, body weight distributed equally on both sides, and then undergoing training of moving body weight back‐and‐forth, side‐to‐side; (vii) Gait training, after patient’s standing balance and affected limbs weight bearing ability improved, starting from gait training between parallel bars to gait training using walking stick and eventually progressing to training of stair climbing and descending" "Occupational therapy: (i) For patients with difficulty swallowing, training was done to stimulate face, tongue and lips, opening and closing of lips, opening and closing of lower jaw, tongue pushing upper palate, extension of tongue, etc, or using ice‐cold cotton bud to stimulate swallowing reflex; (ii) Activity involving the palm and all joints of the fingers as well as agility, coordination and dexterity of the fingers training; (iii) ADL training, including brushing, feeding, washing, donning, passing bowels etc, encouraging the completion of tasks using the affected limbs, or breaking the tasks into components and getting participants to train specific components" The individual components delivered are listed in Table 6. Based on the individual components, this intervention is categorised as comprising functional task training, musculoskeletal intervention (passive) and neurophysiological intervention Length of intervention period: not stated Number of sessions and length of individual sessions: once a day, one hour each time, five times a week Intervention provider: rehabilitation nurses (2) Controlled group (n = 35) Both groups of patients received the same drug therapy, including treatment for cerebral oedema, brain care and improving blood circulation The individual components delivered are listed in Table 6. Based on the individual components, this intervention is categorised as comprising no intervention Length of intervention period: no intervention Number of sessions and length of individual sessions: no intervention Intervention provider: no intervention This study is classified as intervention (functional task training, musculoskeletal (passive), neurophysiological) versus no treatment (Table 7)
Outcomes	Measures of independence in ADL: Modified Barthel Index Measures of motor function: Fugl‐Meyer Assessment (simplified) Other secondary outcome measures: Brunnstrom Grading Scale Time points when outcomes were assessed: before and after intervention
Notes	Original study translated from Chinese to English
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	High risk	"Randomised according to the time of hospital admission"
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk	"Randomised according to the time of hospital admission"
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information provided
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No dropouts described
Free of systematic differences in baseline characteristics of groups compared?	Low risk	No statistically significant differences in baseline values
Did authors adjust for baseline differences in their analyses?	Low risk	No information provided
Other bias	Unclear risk	No information provided