Progressive Whole-Body Vertical Vibration with Conventional Rehabilitation for Upper Limb Function and Corticospinal Excitability in Subacute Stroke Patients

Stroke often results in upper limb impairment. Although many patients regain independent ambulation, upper limb function recovery remains incomplete, which limits activities of daily living (ADL) and reduces quality of life. Optimizing upper limb rehabilitation strategies continues to represent a major challenge in stroke care. This article presents a randomized controlled trial protocol investigating the effects of progressive WBVV training on upper limb function and corticospinal excitability in subacute stroke patients. Forty-eight subacute stroke patients are allocated to an experimental group (n = 24) and a control group (n = 24). The control group receives conventional rehabilitation training, while the experimental group receives additional progressive WBVV training. This intervention offers the advantages of easy implementation, low energy consumption, and favorable tolerability for subacute stroke patients. The WBVV protocol is gradually intensified over four weeks by adjusting frequency and amplitude. After four weeks of intervention, both groups showed significant improvements in upper limb function, ADL ability and neurophysiological indicators (p < 0.05). The experimental group achieved significantly better outcomes in Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) scores compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Both groups presented shortened motor evoked potential latency and increased peak-to-peak amplitude, but no significant between-group differences were found in neurophysiological measures (p > 0.05). These findings indicate that WBVV combined with conventional rehabilitation can effectively promote upper limb functional recovery and ADL performance in subacute stroke patients. Further research is required to verify its effects on corticospinal excitability.