Deans' stroke musings: The safety and efficacy of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in post-stroke patients with moderate functional impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

The safety and efficacy of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in post-stroke patients with moderate functional impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Your competent? doctor WILL 100% GUARANTEE that HIT will not cause a stroke? By verifying that your aneurysms will not blow out? Not just pooh poohing your question? I will never be doing any high intensity training.

Do you really want to do high intensity training?

Because Andrew Marr blames high-intensity training for his stroke.

Can too much exercise cause a stroke?

The latest here:

The safety and efficacy of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in post-stroke patients with moderate functional impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Xueqi Wu¹^†

Dan Yang^2,3,4,5^†

Qiaochu Zhu^2,3,4,5

Yao Xiao^2,3,4,5^*

Hai Huang^2,3,4,5^*

¹College of Acupuncture and Orthopedics, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, China
²Rehabilitation Medicine Center/Tuina Department, Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese, Wuhan, China
³Hubei Shizhen Laboratory, Wuhan, China
⁴Hubei Key Laboratory of Theory and Application Research of Liver and Kidney in Traditional Chinese Medicine (Hubei Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Wuhan, China
⁵The First Clinical Medical School, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, China

Objective: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) versus conventional rehabilitation for improving lower limb function in post-stroke patients.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus from inception to January 2025. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving adults in post-stroke rehabilitation published in English were included, while grey literature was excluded. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The primary outcomes were 6-min walk test (6MWT), Self-Selected Speed (SSS) and the Fastest Speed (FS). The secondary outcomes were peak oxygen uptake (Peak VO₂) and SF-36 scores. The experimental group received high-intensity interval training (which involved robotic-assisted, cycling-based, or treadmill protocols targeting ≥60% of Peak VO₂), and the control group received standard care or regular exercise.

Results: This meta-analysis included 10 studies. The results showed that high-intensity interval training has demonstrated significant improvements in walking ability and cardiopulmonary function compared with controls. High-intensity interval training had positive effects on 6MWT [SMD = 0.25, 95% CI (−0.01, 0.52)], SSS [SMD = 0.65, 95% CI (0.26, 1.03)], FS [SMD = 0.49, 95% CI (0.10, 0.88)], SF-36 scores [SMD = 0.67, 95% CI (0.04, 1.21)] and Peak VO₂ [SMD = 0.29, 95% CI (0.04, 0.54)] in stroke patients. According to the analysis, HIIT participants demonstrated better rehabilitation outcomes in walking capacity, cardiorespiratory function and quality of life.

Conclusion: HIIT may be a safe and effective therapy for specific post-stroke patients, but more high-quality research is needed to confirm its efficacy and optimize protocols.

Systematic review registration: This systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (Unique Identifier: CRD42025637166). The protocol can be accessed at: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42025637166.