What's new in stroke rehabilitation: back to basics.

Stroke rehabilitation has been energized by the increasing confluence of supporting literature from animal studies, neuroimaging investigation of poststroke recovery, and an explosion of clinical rehabilitation trials. As basic scientists and clinical researchers converge, the exciting new technologies and more rigorous clinical methodologies used provide increasing support for some of the basic underpinnings of stroke rehabilitation (ie, the earlier rehabilitation is started the better the recovery), that greater intensity of treatment translates into greater recovery, and that improvement can continue for some time after discharge from hospital or rehabilitation center.