Deans' stroke musings: Footbath Therapy in Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review of Physical and Psychological Outcomes and Implication for Nursing Practice

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.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Footbath Therapy in Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review of Physical and Psychological Outcomes and Implication for Nursing Practice

This one from January 2015 has an interesting conclusion.

S2-3 Improvements in spasticity and motor function using a foot bath for people with chronic hemiparesis following stroke

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that the use of foot baths is an effective non-pharmacological anti-spastic treatment that might facilitate stroke rehabilitation. In addition, the high concentration CO₂ water foot baths appeared to play an important role in decreased spasticity.

Footbath Therapy in Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review of Physical and Psychological Outcomes and Implication for Nursing Practice

Eni Marwanti^(1*), I Made Kariasa⁽²⁾, Riri Maria⁽³⁾

(1) Universitas Indonesia RSUP Dr Kariadi Semarang
(2) Universitas Indonesia
(3) Universitas Indonesia
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

Stroke remains a major neurological condition that frequently results in long-term functional impairments and reduced quality of life among survivors. In addition to pharmacological therapy, various non-pharmacological interventions have been investigated to support recovery, among which footbath therapy has demonstrated potential benefits for both physical and psychological outcomes. This systematic review aimed to identify and synthesise current scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of footbath therapy in stroke patients. Following PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted for articles published between 2014 and 2024 in ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Cochrane, EBSCO, PubMed, and Google Scholar, using keywords developed through the PICO framework. A narrative synthesis approach was employed to analyze the findings, with six eligible studies comprising four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two quasi-experimental studies. The findings suggest that footbath therapy may enhance parasympathetic nervous system activity, improve muscle strength, and reduce spasticity and physical fatigue. Psychologically, it appears to alleviate anxiety and psycho-emotional stress while promoting comfort and sleep satisfaction. The evidence suggests potential benefits of footbath therapy in stroke patients. Given its low risk and ease of implementation, footbath therapy may be regarded as a promising complementary intervention in stroke patients. However, the evidence is based on a small number of heterogeneous studies, and the overall quality of evidence appears limited, suggesting that the findings should be interpreted with caution. Therefore, high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to strengthen the evidence.