Background The impact of hand dominance on the expected (motor and functional ability and daily use) improvement of the affected upper extremity (UE) in subacute stroke has not yet been investigated. Objectives To compare between the affected dominant and affected nondominant UE (1) on rehabilitation admission (T1) for motor and sensory abilities, functional ability, and daily use and (2) 6 weeks poststroke onset (T2) and the UE recovery between T1 and T2 regarding percent change, improvement effect size, and percent of participants achieving minimal clinical important difference (MCID). Methods Multicenter longitudinal study. Results Thirty-eight participants with affected dominant and 51 participants with affected nondominant UE were recruited. On T1 and T2, between-group differences were not seen for all UE variables. Significant improvement in the motor and functional ability, daily use, and perceived recovery between T1 and T2 were seen for the affected dominant (z = −3.01 to −4.13, P < .01) and nondominant UEs (z = −4.59 to −5.32, P < .01). Effect size improvement values were moderate and large in the affected dominant and nondominant UE (respectively). In addition, 14% to 40% of the participants in both UEs achieved MCID. Conclusions Significant and similar clinical meaningfulness in UE improvement can be expected during subacute rehabilitation; however, improvement magnitude and percent improvement is different for the UE domains of the affected dominant and the affected nondominant UEs. These findings highlight the distinct roles of the dominant and nondominant hands during bimanual daily activities, which can guide clinicians during stroke rehabilitation.

中文翻译：

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中风后亚急性期上肢的改善：手优势发挥作用吗？

背景 手优势对亚急性卒中患者上肢（UE）的预期（运动和功能能力以及日常使用）改善的影响尚未得到研究。目的 比较受影响的显性和受影响的非显性 UE (1) 在康复入院 (T1) 的运动和感觉能力、功能能力和日常使用，以及 (2) 中风后 6 周 (T2) 和 T1 和 T1 之间的 UE 恢复T2 关于百分比变化、改善效果大小和达到最小临床重要差异 (MCID) 的参与者百分比。方法多中心纵向研究。结果 招募了 38 名受累的显性 UE 和 51 名受累的非显性 UE 参与者。在 T1 和 T2，所有 UE 变量均未观察到组间差异。对于受影响的优势（z = -3.01 至 -4.13，P < .01）和非优势 UE（z = -4.59 至 -5.32），运动和功能能力、日常使用和感知恢复在 T1 和 T2 之间显着改善, P < .01)。在受影响的显性和非显性 UE（分别）中，效应大小改善值中等和较大。此外，两个 UE 中 14% 到 40% 的参与者都实现了 MCID。结论 亚急性康复期间 UE 改善具有显着和相似的临床意义；然而，受影响的主导和受影响的非主导 UE 的 UE 域的改进幅度和百分比改进是不同的。这些发现强调了惯用手和非惯用手在双手日常活动中的不同作用，