What Is the Association Between Music-Related Leisure Activities and Dementia Risk? A Cohort Study

 I bet your incompetent? doctor never created a music protocol for your stroke recovery either! How long before s/he is fired for incompetence?

music (94 posts back to March 2011)

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• music playing (2 posts to April 2023)

What Is the Association Between Music-Related Leisure Activities and Dementia Risk? A Cohort Study

Emma Jaffa, Zimu Wu, Alice Owen, Aung Azw Zaw Phyo, Robyn L. Woods, Suzanne G. Orchard, Trevor T.-J. Chong, Raj C. Shah, Anne Murray, Joanne Ryan

ABSTRACT

Objectives

To determine whether engagement in music-related leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia and cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND), as well as better cognitive wellbeing in initially cognitively healthy older adults. Here, cognitive wellbeing includes maintaining good cognitive function as well as quality of life. Potential effect modification by education was also investigated.

Methods

This study used secondary data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study, and the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) sub-study. Included were 10,893 community-dwelling Australian adults who were 70 years and older, without dementia diagnosis at recruitment to the study. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to determine the association between level of music engagement (listening to music, playing an instrument, and a combination of both) and dementia risk from year 3 onwards. Linear mixed models were used to investigate the association with cognitive wellbeing. Analyses adjusted for age, gender and level of education completed.

Results

Always listening to music, compared with never/rarely/sometimes, was associated with a 39% decreased risk of dementia (95% CI = 0.45,0.82, p = 0.001), and a 17% decreased risk of CIND (95% CI = 0.74, 0.92, p = 0.001). Playing an instrument (often/always) was associated with a 35% decreased dementia risk only (95% CI = 0.42,0.99, p = 0.047). Participants who both listened to and played music had a 33% decreased dementia risk (95% CI = 0.51,0.89, p = 0.006) and a 22% decreased CIND risk (95% CI = 0.65,0.92, p = 0.004). Always listening to music was associated with better global cognition and memory over time (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, respectively), but not the other cognitive domains. Engagement in music-related activities was not associated with changes in subjective cognitive wellbeing. In general, findings were stronger in individuals with over 16 years of education.

(Live music Sunday and Tuesday night at bars; there will be no condemnation of my drinking. It improves my social connections which will prevent dementia)

Conclusion

These results highlight music as a potential promising, accessible strategy to help reduce cognitive impairment and delay the onset of dementia in later life.

Key points

• Always listening to music was associated with a 39% reduced dementia risk and better global cognition and memory scores.

• Playing an instrument was associated with a 35% reduced dementia risk, but no significant association with CIND risk or changes in cognitive test scores over time.

• Regularly engaging in both music listening and playing was associated with a 33% decreased risk of dementia and 22% decreased risk of cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND).

• Engagement in music-related activities showed no significant association with subjective cognitive wellbeing.

• Music engagement benefits were strongest in those with higher education (16+ years) but showed inconsistent results in the middle education group (12–15 years).

• This large prospective cohort study (n = 10,893) suggests music activities may be an accessible strategy for maintaining cognitive health in older adults, though causation cannot be established.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data used in the current study is available by request (www.aspree.org). Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

58-year-old doctor's daily habits for a long, healthy life: 'I'm going to change the way we age'

 FYI. Somewhere in all this research on healthy living your competent? doctor should already have PREPARED EXACT PROTOCOLS! Not doing so is incompetence!

58-year-old doctor's daily habits for a long, healthy life: 'I'm going to change the way we age'

Studies show that on average, women have a higher chance of living longer than men. Orthopedic sport surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright wants to ensure that when women enter old age it is an enjoyable experience, not one full of pain.

"I am acutely aware that even though we're living longer, we're suffering longer, and that most of the conversation around longevity in this country so far has been directed at men, or using the science of men," says Wright.

For 20 years, Wright was an academic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh researching musculoskeletal aging and longevity with the goal of "dispelling the common notion that aging was an inevitable decline." With her fellow researchers, she studied active members of aging populations, including seniors who competed in the National Senior Games, a biannual event for athletes over the age of 50.

"The mantra that I laid down in the early 2000s when I [wondered], 'What is going to be the guiding light of my career?' is 'I'm going to change the way we age in this country,'" Wright says.

Today, she is a practicing clinician and founder of Precision Longevity. She shares tips with her patients for a longer and healthier life in hopes of "building communities of people who believe that they can have the agency to change their future." She recently published a book titled, "Unbreakable," which is a guide to healthy aging for women.

Much of what Wright, 58, recommends to her patients, she practices in her own life. Here are her daily habits for health and wellness.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

'I focus on getting 130 grams of protein a day so that I can build the muscle that I need'

CNBC Make It: What are some practices that you're doing to keep your body healthy physically?

Interestingly, in my book, "Unbreakable," the heavy lifting plan is actually the one I was working on as the book was being written.

I walk at least 45 minutes a day, three to four times a week. When I have a clinic day, I know that it's 30 steps down the hallway in my office, and I just don't sit down all day. So I work mobility into my lifestyle, and then twice a week, I sprint. Sometimes it's on a treadmill or a bike or a stepper.

That sprinting, in addition to lifting heavy, which I do at least twice a week, those are the things that recompose your body and make us lean. Because I'm not trying to teach anybody or myself to be skinny. It does not interest me. But lean is healthy.

And then I jump intentionally a lot. I just got two new jump ropes. One is two and a half pounds. On social media, I reintroduced the game of hopscotch to my followers, because it's not just jumping up and down that matters. It's the multi-directional jumping that builds better bones.

What are you doing specifically for your brain?

I am religious about my sleep, meaning I am in bed by 9:30pm. I am up by 5:00am. You can count on it, weekend, weekday, because I can tell the difference in my brain.

I like to challenge my brain to learn new things all the time, so I'm constantly learning. I'm reading all kinds of stuff all the time. Learning is pleasurable for me.

But the number one thing I've done for my brain since I turned midlife and menopausal is I have chosen to replace my estrogen. Estrogen is covered in estrogen receptors. The work of Lisa Mosconi and the work of Roberta Brinton, show that without estrogen, a brain starves. And I felt that at 47 when I was hit in the wall by perimenopause.

I felt like I was going to die, and one of the things was the loss of the sharpness in my brain. So I chose for many reasons, but brain health being one of them, to replace my estrogen, and I think that makes as big a difference as anything I've said to you so far.

Something I see in a lot of longevity studies is the importance of staying connected and staying social. What's your social fitness like?

I encourage myself, and when I talk about this to patients, to choose five people. Have a very close knit group. So, I have five people. It's five women within the menopause-y space. A urologist and three OBs, and we talk every day on our chat groups. So that's number one, connecting. I have found that easier to do in midlife than I did when I was younger.

Number two, I am the mother of a blended family of six children, three grandchildren, three very old grandparents and two very old dogs. So we also communicate every day, even if it's just a little bit.

And then number three, I really do still answer people on my Instagram. I mean, I know they're strangers, but it is a way to keep connected. But it's the five people that you surround yourself with most that are most important to your longevity and health.

On nutrition, what are the foods that you're aiming to get into your diet each week?

Every single day, I focus on clean, whole-food nutrition with one gram of protein per pound. So I focus on getting 130 grams of protein a day so that I can build the muscle that I need to do all the other things I mentioned, and that's not that hard.

I eat a lot of green leafy vegetables. I eat a lot of kale, even at breakfast. I have a salad for breakfast. Sometimes it's spinach and kale. I have basically the same things every day. I get protein in the form of dairy and egg, and I do eat animal meat. Every ounce is six grams of protein, so I eat a lot of that every day.

And I don't eat sugar. Yesterday, I had three bites of ice cream because I was out with my 17-year-old. But on a day-to-day basis, I don't eat sugar. And here's why, I can physically feel the difference in my body. I can feel inflamed. I can feel the dullness in my brain when I'm eating sugar. So I focus on anti-inflammatory nutrition, which is good for my body and my brain.

I don't eat simple carbs, with the exception of sourdough. I make sourdough every two weeks and then we freeze the loaves, which decreases their glycemic index. It's wholesome and made out of fermented bacteria. So those are the really simple ways that from a nutritional standpoint, I stay healthy.

One question that I always ask every longevity expert is, what are you currently reading?

I constantly refer to "Estrogen Matters" by Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris. I am reading little parts of "The Menopause Moment," which is coming out by Kelly Casperson. Of course, I'm reading my own book.

I don't read fiction, but I picked up a fiction book because I met this fascinating author at a book author event. It's the Red Rising series, which is a futuristic series of science fiction. I'm really surprised at myself because I don't usually read that. But you know what it let me do for a short amount of time? Escape the real world of taking care of people.

Dr. Vonda Wright's habits for a long, healthy life

Here's a brief summary of Wright's practices for a long and healthy life:

• For her physical health: Counting her steps, sprinting, lifting heavy weights multiple times a week and finding ways to jump more through hopscotch and jump rope.
• For her brain health: Prioritizing sleep, stabilizing her estrogen levels and fueling her appetite for learning.
• For social fitness: Catching up with her friend group of like-minded health professionals, connecting with her family and chatting with her Instagram followers.
• For her diet: Eating a high-protein, anti-inflammatory diet rich in green leafy vegetables, dairy and meat.
• For her media diet: Reading the latest women's health books about menopause, and starting a new sci-fi series.

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How much do nuts matter for blood pressure? This study points to about a handful a day

 Does your competent? doctor follow research and create protocols from it? NO on both counts? PURE INCOMPETENCE;  doctor, hospital and board of directors! You'll have to start running the hospital yourself if you want recovery.

Your incompetent? doctor failed to create protocols from all this earlier research, right?

• nuts (22 posts to May 2015)
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• walnuts(20 posts to October 2014)

How much do nuts matter for blood pressure? This study points to about a handful a day

An analysis of more than 143,000 people suggests that roughly a handful of nuts a day may offer the greatest benefit, with higher intake linked to substantially lower hypertension risk.

In a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers examined the association between nut consumption and the risk of hypertension.

Hypertension is a significant health concern, affecting 1.4 billion people worldwide. It is also one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease, accounting for nearly 8% of disability-adjusted life years.

Diets low in whole grains, potassium, fruit, vegetables, and nuts/seeds but high in added sugar, sodium, sugar-sweetened beverages, and processed and red meat are the primary dietary risk factors associated with hypertension.

Nuts and their constituents have been suggested to contribute to cardiovascular health. Several meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have reported reductions in blood pressure (BP) with nut intake, although findings have not been entirely consistent. However, a borderline significant decrease in the risk of hypertension was reported in a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.

Subsequent prospective cohort studies have yielded mixed results on the association between nut intake and hypertension risk.

About the study

In the present study, researchers evaluated the association between nut intake and the risk of hypertension. First, the Embase and PubMed databases were comprehensively searched for studies assessing the association between nut intake and the risk of hypertension. Eligible studies were prospective cohort studies, population-based cohort studies, case-cohort studies, and nested case-control studies.

Relevant data, such as study and participant characteristics, exposure, risk estimates, follow-up, and adjusted variables, were extracted from included studies. A modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the quality of studies. The strength of evidence was assessed using the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) grading criteria. Summary relative risk (RR) estimates were computed for the association between nut intake and hypertension risk using random-effects models.

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Both linear and non-linear dose-response associations were examined. The I-square statistic was used to assess heterogeneity between studies. Further, meta-regression and subgroup analyses explored potential sources of heterogeneity, including follow-up duration, sex, study quality, geographical location, number of cases, assessment method, and adjustment for confounders. Publication bias was examined using funnel plots and Egger’s test.

Findings

The broader literature search, which incorporated additional dietary exposures, identified 7,879 records, of which eight prospective studies were included in the nut analysis. There were 143,380 participants, including 20,665 with hypertension, aged 18–87 years, across studies. Two studies included only males, while the remaining included both sexes. Three studies were conducted in the United States (US), three in Asia (Iran, China, and South Korea), and two in Europe (France and Spain). On average, the quality score of studies was 6.8 out of eight.

Six studies were rated as high quality and two as medium quality. The highest nut consumption was inversely associated with hypertension risk, with a summary RR of 0.84, compared to the lowest intake. In the linear dose-response analysis, the summary RR was 0.8 for each serving of nuts (~28 g) consumed per day. However, between-study heterogeneity was substantial and was partly driven by one study. In addition, a potential non-linear association was noted, with the non-linear curve flattening at 25–30 g/day.

The inverse association was observed in most subgroup analyses, with no evidence of heterogeneity between subgroups. The authors graded the likelihood of causality as probable under the WCRF criteria, although they noted that residual confounding could not be ruled out. In a sensitivity analysis, transforming odds ratios to RRs did not alter the summary RR for the highest-versus-lowest nut intake category. Begg’s and Egger’s tests and funnel plot inspection revealed no indication of publication bias, although only eight studies were available.

Conclusions

In summary, higher nut intake was associated with a significantly lower risk of hypertension. In particular, a 20% lower relative risk was associated with each 28 g/day increment in nut intake in the linear dose-response analysis. There was some indication of a non-linear association, with 30–35 g/day of nut intake associated with a modeled 26% decrease in risk. These findings are consistent with meta-analyses reporting benefits of nut intake for BP.

The study’s limitations include potential residual confounding, dietary measurement error, mostly single baseline assessments of nut intake, and the lack of analysis by specific nut types.

Moreover, there was no data on whether nuts were salted or unsalted, an important consideration because salt can increase BP

(Lots more research on that here:

Review finds no proven clinical benefit to strict salt restriction for patients with heart failure

Low-Salt Diet Ineffective, Study Finds. Disagreement Abounds. June 2011 

The wrong white crystals: not salt but sugar as aetiological in hypertension and cardiometabolic disease December 2014

Why Everything We Know About Salt May Be Wrong May 2017 

Researchers reveal surprising findings on how salt affects blood flow in the brain

November 2021 )

, and there were no studies from Africa or the Indian subcontinent. As such, the findings may not apply to all ethnicities or populations.

Future research should include diverse cohorts, examine specific nut types and whether they are salted, investigate specific metabolites in nuts, and elucidate the mechanisms underlying the association. Overall, the results provide further support for dietary recommendations for increased nut consumption.

Journal reference:

• Metoudi M, Sadler I, Kassam S, Aune D (2026). Nut consumption and the risk of hypertension: a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis of prospective studies. British Journal of Nutrition, 1-22. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114526108137, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/nut-consumption-and-the-risk-of-hypertension-a-systematic-review-and-dose-response-metaanalysis-of-prospective-studies/F598AFD9FD35B00A41A428C9D65F2C14

Scientists find supplement linked to slower aging

 

Your competent? doctor has already prescribed multivitamins based on all this earlier research, right! Oh NO; NO KNOWLEDGE AND NO PRESCRIPTION/PROTOCOL! 

• multivitamin (18 posts to May 2015)

Call the president and ask about hiring competent persons!

Scientists find supplement linked to slower aging

Even though about 75% of Americans take a supplement regularly, there’s been a lot of debate about whether most people actually benefit from them. Now, new research suggests that one supplement, in particular, may slow down aging and therefore help extend your life.

The study, which was published in the journal Nature Medicine, analyzed the impact of multivitamin use in older adults and linked it to a few additional months of life. For the study, researchers used data from the COcoa Supplement Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) and analyzed data on DNA methylation (a sign of biological aging) from blood samples of 958 randomly chosen, healthy participants with an average age of 70.

The study participants were randomly assigned to take a daily cocoa extract and multivitamin, a daily cocoa extract and placebo, a placebo and a multivitamin, or two placebos. The researchers analyzed samples for changes in five different epigenetic clocks (a tool that uses biological markers to measure age) during several periods in the two-year trial.

After crunching the data, the researchers discovered that people in the multivitamin group had slower aging based on calculations from five epigenetic clocks. These indicated that the older adults had about four months less biological aging over the two-year study period. People who were biologically older than their actual age at the start of the study received the most benefit.

It’s important to point this out now: The study was partially funded by Mars Edge, a segment of Mars dedicated to nutrition research and products, and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (now Haleon) also provided pills and packaging used in the study. But those companies weren’t involved in the study design, data analysis, or final paper.

Related video: Study identifies protein that could help protect memory as we age (WKYC-TV Cleveland)

Meet the experts:Scott Keatley, R.D., is co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy; Jessica Cording, R.D.,is the author of The Little Book of Game-Changers; Eric Ascher, D.O., is a family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital; Sidong Li, M.D., lead study author and a research fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

It’s not cheap to take a daily multivitamin, and data has been mixed on how much their use may impact health, making it fair to wonder if this is a health hack worth pursuing. Here’s what dietitians and a doctor want you to keep in mind.

Why might taking a multivitamin slow biological aging?

It likely comes down to nutrition, says Scott Keatley, R.D., co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. “Filling gaps is a big part of how a multivitamin may help you,” he says.

In this particular study, daily multivitamin use significantly raised blood levels of carotenoids and vitamin E. “These are big antioxidants that help fight cellular aging,” Keatley says. “These increases emerged at year one and held steady into year two, suggesting consistent, meaningful nutritional support over time.”

Jessica Cording, R.D., author of The Little Book of Game-Changers, agrees. “When we’re covering our nutritional bases, whether through supplements or nutrition, it’s supporting more efficient mitochondrial functioning, which is a key factor in aging,” she says. “It also protects against deficiencies that might impair immune response and other factors involved in the aging process.”

Cording stresses that this study focused on older adults. “That is a population that is more prone to nutrient deficiencies,” she says.

But research hasn’t definitively concluded that taking a multivitamin helps you live longer. A 2024 JAMA Network Open analysis of data from nearly 400,000 healthy American adults who were followed for more than 20 years found no link between regular multivitamin use and a lower risk of early death.

Can you get the same perks from eating a balanced diet?

This study didn’t investigate that, but it’s possible, says Sidong Li, M.D., lead study author and a research fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “Maintaining a balanced and healthy diet is always the top priority for promoting healthy and high-quality aging,” Dr. Li says.

Eric Ascher, D.O., a family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital, agrees. “I recommend all my patients choose fresh fruits and vegetables—and a well-balanced diet—over multivitamins,” he says. (Dr. Ascher just points out that supplements are not tightly regulated by the FDA, making it hard to know for sure if the supplement contains what the label states.)

Keatley also recommends a food-first approach. “A genuinely well-rounded diet, one rich in tomatoes, leafy greens, colorful vegetables, nuts and seeds absolutely delivers these nutrients without a pill,” he says. “The challenge is that most people aren't actually eating that way.” (Keatley points out that the placebo group in the study, which is likely made up of health-conscious people because they’re enrolled in a clinical trial, didn’t have gains in biological aging during the study period.)

Who may benefit from a multivitamin?

While multivitamins aren’t universally needed to be healthy, Cording says there are a few groups that may benefit:

• Older adults
• People with increased nutrient needs
• A person with a lot of food sensitivities
• Expectant moms
• Nursing moms
• Vegetarians and vegans

“It’s not uncommon to need a supplement as you get older,” Cording says.

Are there any downsides of taking a multivitamin?

Taking a daily multivitamin can be costly and, again, there’s no guarantee that you’re actually getting what the label states.

But people who take a multivitamin may feel a sense of “false security” that they’re covering all their nutritional bases, Keatley says. “People who feel covered by a pill are often less motivated to improve their actual diet, which delivers fiber, phytonutrients, protein, and food synergies no supplement can replicate,” he says.

Multivitamins may also cause digestive discomfort if you take them on an empty stomach, Cording says. “If you’re taking a multivitamin alongside other supplements, there is a risk of overdoing certain nutrients,” she says.

When it comes to the health impact of taking a daily multivitamin, experts agree that more work is needed. For now, Keatley suggests thinking of this supplement as an insurance policy. “It’s most valuable when the gap between what you need and what you're eating is widest,” he says.

Dietary supplements are products intended to supplement the diet. They are not medicines and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure diseases. Be cautious about taking dietary supplements if you are pregnant or nursing. Also, be careful about giving supplements to a child, unless recommended by their healthcare provider.

How Outdoor Therapy Improves Rehabilitation Recovery

 I bet your competent? doctor has NO PROTOCOLS to get you outside in nature at all.  Which means your doctor has never heard of forest bathing! Only once did I walk outside on the grass outside the hospital, no nature there at all. My recreational therapist never even asked what my outdoor pursuits were so protocols could be introduced to get there; whitewater canoeing, biking, fishing, hunting!

The trophies are from the Buttercup series of whitewater slalom races(6 races in Wisconsin and Minnesota).

Left is 1rst place OC1(Open Canoe 1 person) 2004

Middle is 2nd place OC1(Open Canoe 1 person) 2003

Right is 3rd place OC1(Open Canoe 1 person) 2005, stroke was in May 2006

Missing are the two first place finishes in OC2(Open Canoe 2 person) in consecutive years with different paddling partners, they have the trophies. 

How Outdoor Therapy Improves Rehabilitation Recovery

Following a serious injury, surgery, or illness, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy are crucial for recovery. Recreational therapy, especially when it takes place outdoors, can also play an important role in helping patients heal.

Research shows that spending time outdoors during rehabilitation can improve the well-being of people as they recover.

“When a patient is in the hospital for an extended period of time, a lot of their autonomy is taken away because they endure many procedures and complex medical care throughout their hospital stay,” says Katy Mayer, TRS, CTRS, a recreational therapist at Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital. “As recreational therapists, part of our theory of practice is to return some of that autonomy to them and give our patients the freedom of choice just for the sake of trying something new and having fun.”

Why Nature Is Good for Recovery

Whether you’re performing physical therapy exercises or simply enjoying some fresh air on a bench, being in nature does more than offer a change of scenery.

Spending time outdoors boosts your mental health by:

• Lowering blood pressure
• Reducing stress
• Improving mood
• Improving cognitive function
• Encouraging physical activity
• Offering opportunities for social interaction

Studies suggest that just 10 minutes outdoors can positively impact a person’s mental health. This can be a game changer for those going through recovery treatment in a hospital setting.

“Many of our patients already have a connection to the outdoors,” Mayer says. “We’ve had patients who are avid bikers, hikers, fishers, and skiers. When they haven’t had access to outdoor activity for so long, that deprivation really weighs on them mentally.”

Taking Rehabilitation Outside

Patients at Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital have access to outdoor spaces designed to support their ongoing therapies and treatments.

• Depending on their recovery goals, patients may:
• Practice walking or navigating different outdoor surfaces.
• Build strength and endurance during therapy sessions outside.
• Garden in raised beds by planting, watering, or caring for flowers and vegetables.
• Improve standing tolerance while working with plants and soil.
• Experience sensory activities using fragrant plants such as lavender and rosemary, which can be helpful for patients recovering from brain injuries.
• Take a break outdoors to reduce stress and recharge between therapy sessions.
• “Our therapists are trained to manage ventilators and other medical devices in the transition to going outside,” Mayer says, “and there are protocols in place to ensure patients who have received an organ transplant are safe and can get the most out of being outside for therapy.”

Therapists can also take patients on supervised outings to local parks, gardens, and other community destinations. These trips give patients the chance to practice mobility devices, navigate public spaces, strengthen cognitive function through navigation, and prepare for everyday life after rehabilitation.

Finding Joy During Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is hard work, but it should also include moments of enjoyment. Recreational therapy helps patients work toward physical, cognitive, social, and emotional goals through meaningful activities.

Programs at Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital include:

• “Therapeutic Art Group” led by a recreational therapist and an artist-in-residence
• Music therapy
• Relaxation and mindfulness exercises
• Puzzles and games
• Pet therapy
• Socialization and therapeutic conversation

 A rehab patient and therapy staff enjoy a visit from a therapy dog on the Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital patio

Family members are encouraged to participate in many of these activities, creating opportunities to connect and take a break from the stress of caring.

“Having little pockets of joy throughout the day can really make a difference for patients,” Mayer says. “Family members also need that sense of community and normalcy.”

While rehabilitation focuses on helping patients regain strength and independence, recovery is about more than meeting therapy goals. Spending time outdoors, reconnecting with favorite activities, and sharing meaningful moments with loved ones can help patients build the confidence they need for life after the hospital.

A wearable sensor–based kinematic dataset collected under standardized rehabilitation tasks from 120 post-stroke patients

 Until your competent? doctor and therapists get an objective damage diagnosis from something like this THEY HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE HOW TO TREAT YOU!

Their answer is pretty much useless guidelines WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT IS WRONG!

I'd fire anyone that absolutely stupid in their treatment protocols! 

 See this example of nine reasons for a movement disability:

 

You can't tell me these all have the same solution, I'm not that stupid.
1. Penumbra damage to the motor cortex.
2. Dead brain in the motor cortex.
3. Penumbra damage in the pre-motor cortex.
4. Dead brain in the pre-motor cortex.
5. Penumbra damage in the executive control area.
6. Dead brain in the executive control area.
7. Penumbra damage in the white matter underlying any of these three.
8. Dead brain in the white matter underlying any of these three.
9. Spasticity preventing movement from occurring.

The latest here: 

A wearable sensor–based kinematic dataset collected under standardized rehabilitation tasks from 120 post-stroke patients

• Ming Lv,
• Yun Gao,
• Gang Cheng,
• Lanxiang Wang,
• Mingyu Cai,
• Weinan Zhou,
• Liquan Guo &
• Kunlun He 

Scientific Data volume 13, Article number: 1136 (2026) Cite this article

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Abstract

Stroke frequently results in long-term motor impairments, making effective rehabilitation essential for functional recovery. However, the development of intelligent rehabilitation systems is hindered by the lack of large-scale kinematic data from stroke patients. Here, we present REHAB, a wearable sensor-based kinematic dataset collected from 120 post-stroke patients during a two-week rehabilitation program. The dataset comprises signals recorded from 27 standardized assessment movements and 16 rehabilitation training movements, providing comprehensive limb kinematics together with corresponding task annotations and clinical labels. Detailed descriptions of the data acquisition protocol, sensor configuration, and data organization are provided to ensure reproducibility and facilitate reuse. In addition, systematic quality-control procedures, including clinician-guided acquisition, sensor calibration, signal inspection, and preprocessing standardization, were implemented throughout the data collection pipeline to ensure data quality and consistency. REHAB provides a comprehensive and clinically relevant kinematic resource for stroke rehabilitation research and may support future studies in rehabilitation assessment, movement analysis, wearable sensing, and data-driven intelligent rehabilitation systems.

Background & Summary

Stroke, also known as cerebrovascular accident (CVA), is an acute disease caused by the interruption of blood flow to the brain, resulting in damage to brain tissue1. Motor dysfunction is a common sequela among stroke patients, manifesting as limb paralysis, muscle weakness, or impaired coordination2. This motor dysfunction is closely associated with injury to specific regions of the brain following a stroke, especially those responsible for regulating motor function, such as the motor cortex, basal ganglia, and spinal cord3,4. To regain motor function, patients typically require long-term rehabilitation that includes professional assessments and treatments during hospitalization as well as home-based rehabilitation training post-discharge, aimed at maximizing neural plasticity and enhancing quality of life5,6,7,8.

Rehabilitation assessment and training are critical for restoring motor function. Assessment serves as the foundation of rehabilitation, enabling healthcare teams to gain deep insights into patients’ functional status and develop personalized rehabilitation plans9,10,11. Standardized scales are commonly used, such as the Brunnstrom stages12 for assessing the recovery status of hemiplegic limbs and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA)13 for assessing fine motor skills. Despite their value, clinical assessments still face challenges of being time-consuming and subjective, highlighting the need for intelligent enhancements14,15,16. Meanwhile, home-based rehabilitation training is also crucial, especially the activity-based task-oriented training17. Its effectiveness relies heavily on patients’ adherence and gradual progression18. While home programs offer the advantages of long-term exercise and increased convenience, they also present limitations. Key challenges include the lack of professional guidance, low compliance with exercise regimens, limited access to equipment and technological support, insufficient assessment mechanisms, and inadequate feedback systems19,20. To address the above challenges, a widely recognized intelligent solution consists of three key steps:

Step 1: Establish a data acquisition system. Common kinematic sensors include inertial measurement units (IMUs) and cameras. IMUs can be used to measure acceleration and angular velocity to assess movement patterns and coordination21. Cameras can provide intuitive visual-level motion information. However, considering the convenience and privacy requirements of home-based rehabilitation, camera-based sensors are often restricted22,23. In home rehabilitation, low-cost and portable wearable devices are more practical and promote broader adoption24,25. Therefore, IMUs represent a practical and cost-effective solution for rehabilitation-oriented motion monitoring, providing portable, privacy-friendly, and comprehensive kinematic sensing capabilities in home-based rehabilitation scenarios26,27.

Step 2: Establish data analysis models. To analyze the data collected by the acquisition system, mathematical models will be established, such as machine learning or deep learning models. By leveraging motion data, these individual models can achieve motor function assessment28, rehabilitation behavior recognition29, movement accuracy assessment30, fatigue calculation31, and so on. These models can reduce workload, eliminate subjectivity, and enhance rehabilitation effectiveness.

Step 3: Build a comprehensive rehabilitation system. A comprehensive application-oriented software platform is then developed, linking the hardware and algorithms, and featuring an intuitive and visualized user interface. The platform integrates the functions of individual models, visualizes the model outputs, and provides data recording, storage, and comprehensive analysis32. Through this platform, rehabilitation progress can be continuously tracked, and detailed feedback reports can be generated. By offering real-time visual and auditory feedback, the system assists patients in correcting movements, improving adherence, and enhancing rehabilitation effectiveness.

Both the second and third steps require large volumes of pre-existing kinematic datasets for pre-training individual models, model validation, and system verification. However, existing datasets are insufficient for training models specifically designed for patients with impaired motor function, as they suffer from the following limitations:

1. (1)

   Lack of rehabilitation-specific tasks, limiting dataset relevance: Existing kinematic datasets (UCI33, Pamap234, HANDY35, and36) mainly contain activities of daily living (ADL), such as walking and sitting29. Although they can be used to build pre-trained kinematic-based models, they lack rehabilitation-specific tasks, such as functional training exercises, fine motor movements, and resistance-based training, which are necessary to adjust the model and form a specialized one37. This limitation results in insufficient diversity of rehabilitation-related movements during model training, reducing accuracy when handling complex or specialized rehabilitation tasks. Consequently, the models fail to comprehensively reflect the real needs of patients with motor impairments.

2. (2)

   Insufficient patient data limits model generalization and clinical applicability: Currently, systematic kinematic datasets based on real patients suffer from insufficient data volume. For instance, IntelliRehabDS38 (IRDS) contains kinematic data tailored to physical rehabilitation but is constrained by a limited number of enrolled patients. By contrast, most large-scale kinematic sensor datasets are constructed using data from healthy individuals, such as39. This scarcity of patient-specific data has compelled many studies40,41 to rely on self-collected datasets, which typically include only healthy participants or a small cohort of patients. Consequently, models trained on such inadequate datasets fail to accurately capture the unique movement characteristics and recovery trajectories of patients. This not only impairs the models’ generalization ability across diverse pathological conditions but also restricts their practical applicability in clinical settings.

3. (3)

   Dominance of vision-based data, limiting privacy and convenience in home rehabilitation: Many kinematic datasets (NTU RGB + D42, Kinetics-Skeleton43,44) primarily rely on video data, which, although effective for action recognition, raises privacy concerns in home rehabilitation settings45,46,47. Recent advances in computer vision and single-camera body tracking frameworks have reduced the hardware and deployment requirements of vision-based systems. However, continuous video monitoring in personal living environments may still limit user acceptance and long-term applicability in home rehabilitation scenarios.

4. (4)

   Inconsistent labeling and low annotation quality: To establish an intelligent model that meets clinical requirements, accurate annotation and professional labeling of the data are required. Lack of rehabilitation-specific clinical labels, such as Brunnstrom stages, Fugl-Meyer scores, or fatigue levels, will hinder the model’s ability to assess rehabilitation outcomes and predict recovery stages.

To address the aforementioned limitations, we present REHAB, a wearable sensor-based kinematic dataset designed for stroke rehabilitation research. Compared with existing datasets, REHAB is characterized by a streamlined data acquisition setup, clinically grounded data collection, and comprehensive coverage of rehabilitation-related movements. In contrast to many previous IMU-based datasets that were primarily collected from healthy participants performing activities of daily living (ADLs), REHAB specifically focuses on post-stroke patients with hemiplegic motor impairments and rehabilitation-oriented movement tasks. All data in the dataset were collected from stroke patients undergoing real clinical rehabilitation procedures, thereby providing movement characteristics that more accurately reflect pathological motor patterns and rehabilitation needs in clinical practice. Furthermore, unlike conventional ADL-oriented datasets, the movements included in REHAB are entirely composed of clinically relevant rehabilitation assessment and rehabilitation training tasks, making the dataset more suitable for rehabilitation assessment, motor function analysis, recovery monitoring, and intelligent rehabilitation applications. The dataset was acquired using a deployable and easy-to-operate sensing system composed of five wearable sensor nodes, integrating inertial measurement units (IMUs) and flex sensors (FSs). This configuration enables the collection of sufficient kinematic information while maintaining a low hardware burden, facilitating potential deployment in both clinical and home-based rehabilitation settings. REHAB comprises real-world data collected from a randomized controlled clinical trial involving 120 post-stroke patients with motor impairments over a two-week rehabilitation program. All recordings were obtained in clinical environments and accompanied by standardized clinical labels, ensuring data reliability and clinical relevance. The dataset includes kinematic recordings from 27 standardized rehabilitation assessment movements and 16 rehabilitation training movements, covering a broad range of clinically relevant motor functions. While a subset of the assessment-related kinematic data has been utilized in our previous study48,49 for intelligent rehabilitation assessment, these data have not been publicly released. In contrast, the kinematic data corresponding to the rehabilitation training movements are reported here for the first time. By integrating data from both rehabilitation assessment and training scenarios, REHAB provides a unified resource for studying motor assessment, recovery progression, and rehabilitation outcome analysis.

The remainder of this Data Descriptor is organized as follows. The Methods section details the clinical trial design, sensor system configuration, experimental protocol, and data preprocessing procedures. The Data Records section describes the dataset organization, data formats, and variable definitions. The Technical Validation section evaluates data quality and reliability through systematic validation analyses.

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