BACKGROUND: Stroke, the third highest cause of death after cancer and cardiac diseases, is a strong cause of adult disability in most countries. Therefore, the aim of the current meta-analysis was to examine the most effective intensity and duration of treadmill training on motor performance in stroke subjects. METHODS: Suitable studies were recognized from January 1980 to July 2015 using PubMed as the main search engine. There were noticeable biases such as training intensity, training duration (>= 2 weeks), relative training intensity, and VO2max, which were controlled. Subgroup classifications for human studies were prepared based on previous studies and were determined as follows: low intensity (<= 0.6m/s)-low volume/duration (<= 500 minutes), low intensity (<= 0.6m/s)-high volume/duration (> 500 minutes), high intensity (> 0.6m/s)-low volume/duration (<= 500 minutes), and high intensity (> 0.6m/s)-high volume/duration (> 500 minutes). RESULTS: Forty-nine articles were identified for human studies. This meta-analysis exhibited treadmill training regardless if intensity and volume/duration had a significantly greater recovery of motor function than did no training (standard mean difference (SMD) 0.601; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.546 to 0.657; p = 0.0001). Also, for the low-intensity, low-volume/-duration strategy, training on a treadmill displayed a significantly greater motor function rehabilitation than did no training (SMD 0.75; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.85; p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The current meta-analysis showed that low-intensity (<= 0.6m/s)-high-duration/-volume (> 500 minutes) treadmill training as a rehabilitation strategy had the highest SMD to ameliorate stroke-induced dysfunctions compared with the other strategies.
Copyright by WB Saunders Company.

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