BACKGROUND: In the natural evolution of cerebrovascular disease, unconscious use of affected extremity during drug treatment and daily life can improve the function of affected upper extremity partially, but it is very slow and alsc accompanied by the formation of abnormal mode. Therefore, functional training should be emphasized in recovering the motor function of extremity.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of combination of motor releing program and Bobath method on motor function of upper extremity of patients with stroke.DESIGN: Comparison of therapeutic effects taking stroke patients as observation subjects.SETTING: Department of Neurology, General Hospital of Beijing Jingmei Group.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 120 stroke patients, including 60 males and 60 females, averaged (59±3) years, who hospitalized in the Department of Neurology, General Hospital of Beijing Jingmei Group between January 2005 and June 2006 were recruited. The involved patients met the following criteria: Stroke attack within 2 weeks;diagnosis criteria of cerebral hemorrhage or infarction made in the 4th National Cerebrovascular Disease Conference; confirmed by skull CT or MRI; Informed consents of therapeutic regimen were obtained. The patients were assigned into 2 groups according to their wills: rehabilitation group and control group, with 30 males and 30 females in each group. Patients in rehabilitation group averaged (59±2)years old, and those in the control group averaged (58±2)years old.METHODS: ① Patients in two groups received routine treatment in the Department of Neurology. When the vital signs of patients in the rehabilitation group were stable, individualized treatment was conducted by combined application of motor releing program and Bobath method. Meanwhile, training of activity of daily living was performed according to the disease condition changes of patients at different phases, including the nursing and instruction of body posture, the maintenance of good extremity position, bed exercise, bedside sit up and sitting position balance, sit up exercise, dynamic and static balance exercise, walking exercise, active training and passive training. The strength, time and speed of training were increased gradually according to their physical abilities. Patients were trained 45 to 60 minutes once, 5 times a week, within 2 weeks. ② Evaluation criteria of therapeutic effect: The motor function of upper extremity was evaluated by FugI-Meyer method on the day of beginning and end of treatment. Higher points indicated better function of upper extremity. ③ t test and paired t test were used for comparing the difference of intergroup and intragroup measurement data, respectively.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in Fugl-Meyer scoring of two groups before and after treatment.RESULTS: Totally 120 stroke patients participated in the final analysis. Before treatment, Fugl-Meyer scoring was close between rehabilitation group and control group [(14.47±2.38),(14.16±2.39) points, P＞ 0.05];Fugl-Meyer scoring of rehabilitation group after treatment was significantly higher than that before treatment and that of control group [(37.93±2.67),(18.36±2.43) points, t=11.053, 5.408, P＜ 0.01]; There were no significant differences in FugI-Meyer scoring between before treatment in the control group and control group (P＞ 0.05).CONCLUSION: Combined application of motor releing program and Bobath method can significantly improve the motor function of upper extremity of patients with stroke.