Abstract
Recently, neuroathletic training has been increasingly applied in competitive sports, in therapy, and prevention. Scientific evidence on the effectiveness of this approach, however, has been poorly developed. To investigate possible effects of neuroathletic exercises on balance ability of post-stroke patients, a controlled trial with a standardized protocol of daily neuroathletic exercises compared to traditional movement therapy during a four-week medical rehabilitation, was conducted (N = 19). Results of the pre-post-measurement via Berg-Balance-Scale (BBS) show significant balance improvements in the intervention and control group, whereas the intervention group reached a higher total score with half the size of the standard deviation. Comparing the results of both groups, the analyses support the general effectiveness of movement therapy for the improvement of balance in stroke rehabilitation. However, neuroathletic training exercises did not lead to a stronger effect. At the same time, the intervention group did not score significantly lower than the control group. A negative influence can therefore not be assumed. For the further investigation of neuroathletic training compared to treatment-as-usual to improve the balance in stroke rehabilitation, more research with larger sample sizes and longer treatment periods is to be conducted.