Systematic Documentation of Physiotherapy Practice During Usual Care and High-Intensity Gait Training in…

Cohort studyJournal of evaluation in clinical practice· Aug 2026

Systematic Documentation of Physiotherapy Practice During Usual Care and High-Intensity Gait Training in Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation.

Ylva Hivand Hiorth, Jennifer L Moore, FIRST‐Track Study group

Hospital MedicineCohort studyClinical practiceQ2IF 1.7

Patients given high-intensity gait training took more daily steps than usual care.

Systematic Documentation of Physiotherapy Practice During Usual Care and High-Intensity Gait Training in Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation.

Ylva Hivand Hiorth … FIRST‐Track Study group

Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · Aug 2026

Background

Usual care (usual care) in stroke rehabilitation is often insufficiently documented, limiting evaluation of interventions such as high-intensity gait training (high-intensity gait training).

Purpose

To describe physiotherapy delivery in usual care and high-intensity gait training in inpatient stroke rehabilitation, focusing on session frequency, intensity, time, type and overall daily activity volume (FITT-V), and to evaluate the correspondence between heart rate-based and perceived exertion-based intensity monitoring.

Methods

This prospective quasi-experimental longitudinal study included 147 inpatients with stroke and impaired gait (median age 67 years, 67% male, median time since stroke 19 days).

n = 147 inpatients

Results

high-intensity training patients walked more steps daily

HIGT

45min

UC

38min

More results

High-intensity gait training sessions involved more gait-focused activities, whereas usual care showed a broader mix of training types.

More results

Correspondence between perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate was low for mean intensity (19.5%) but higher for peak intensity (47.8%), reflecting variability in perceived exertion in this heterogeneous inpatient stroke population.

Clinician adherence was ≥ 80% for most measures.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

FITT-V provides a structured approach to document physiotherapy delivery, revealing key differences in intensity, duration, and activity type that support targeted improvements in post-stroke rehabilitation.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Challenges remain in accurately capturing perceived exertion, underscoring the need for complementary objective measures.

Systematic Documentation of Physiotherapy Practice During Usual Care and High-Intensity Gait Training in Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation.

Systematic Documentation of Physiotherapy Practice During Usual Care and High-Intensity Gait Training in Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation.

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