Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in the western world. Loss of strength after stroke (i.e., the loss of the ability to produce normal amounts of muscle force) is often extensive. Loss of strength is also the main impairment that contributes to activity limitation after stroke.

Given that, you might think that the effects of strengthening interventions after stroke would be well established as beneficial. However, previous systematic literature reviews on this topic have included studies where the strengthening intervention was quite mild in intensity; although some improvement in strength was observed, this did not carry over to an increase in activity.