PURPOSE: The present study aimed to determine the effects of a task-oriented training on paretic upper extremity functional performance in patients with subacute stroke. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight subacute stroke sufferers (mean age 50.07, standard deviation 9.31 years; mean time since stroke 11.11, standard deviation 6.73 weeks) were randomly allocated to task-oriented training (n = 14) or conventional exercise program (n = 14) group. They were trained as a hospital-based, individualized training 1 hour a session, 5 sessions a week for 4 weeks. Wolf Motor Function Test (primary outcome), motor portion of Fugl-Meyer assessment upper extremity, and hand function domain of Stroke Impact Scale were assessed at baseline, after 2 and 4 weeks of training. RESULTS: All participants completed their training programs. At all post-training assessments, the task-oriented training group showed significantly more improvements in all outcomes than the conventional exercise program group. No serious adverse effects were observed during or after the training. CONCLUSION: Task-oriented training produced statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements of paretic upper extremity functional performance in patients with subacute stroke. These beneficial effects were observed after 2 weeks (10 hours) of training. Future investigation is warranted to confirm and expand these findings.

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