{rfName}
A

Indexed in

License and use

Altmetrics

Analysis of institutional authors

Ballester BAuthorMaier MAuthorVerschure PCorresponding Author
Share
Publications
>
Article

A critical time window for recovery extends beyond one-year post-stroke

Publicated to:Journal Of Neurophysiology. 122 (1): 350-357 - 2019-07-01 122(1), DOI: 10.1152/jn.00762.2018

Authors: Ballester, BR; Maier, M; Duff, A; Cameirao, M; Bermúdez, S; Duarte, E; Cuxart, A; Rodríguez, S; Mozo, RMS; Versehure, PFMJ

Affiliations

Hosp Joan XIII, Serv Med Fis & Rehabil, Tarragona, Spain - Author
Hosp Mar I Esperanca, Inst Hosp Mar Invest Med, Serv Med Fis & Rehabil, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Hosp Univ Vail dHebron, Serv Med Fis & Rehabil, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Hospital del Mar - Author
Hospital Universitari de Tarragona Joan XXIII - Author
Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron - Author
Inst Bioengn Catalonia IBEC, Lab Synthet Percept Emot & Cognit Syst, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats - Author
Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia - Author
Instituto de Bioingeniería de Cataluña - Author
Madeira Interact Technol Inst, Campus Univ Penteada, Funchal, Portugal - Author
Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute - Author
Passeig Lluis Co, ICREA, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS). Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia - Author
Univ Madeira, Campus Univ Penteada, Funchal, Portugal - Author
See more

Abstract

The impact of rehabilitation on post-stroke motor recovery and its dependency on the patient's chronicity remain unclear. The field has widely accepted the notion of a proportional recovery rule with a critical window for recovery within the first 3-6 mo poststroke. This hypothesis justifies the general cessation of physical therapy at chronic stages. However, the limits of this critical window have, so far, been poorly defined. In this analysis, we address this question, and we further explore the temporal structure of motor recovery using individual patient data from a homogeneous sample of 219 individuals with mild to moderate upper-limb hemiparesis. We observed that improvement in body function and structure was possible even at late chronic stages. A bootstrapping analysis revealed a gradient of enhanced sensitivity to treatment that extended beyond 12 mo poststroke. Clinical guidelines for rehabilitation should be revised in the context of this temporal structure. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Previous studies in humans suggest that there is a 3- to 6-mo critical window of heightened neuroplasticity poststroke. We analyze the temporal structure of recovery in patients with hemiparesis and uncover a precise gradient of enhanced sensitivity to treatment that expands far beyond the limits of the so-called critical window. These findings highlight the need for providing therapy to patients at the chronic and late chronic stages.

Keywords
motor recoveryneuroplasticityneurorehabilitationstroke recoveryMotor recoveryNeuroplasticityNeurorehabilitationStroke recoveryVirtual reality

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Journal Of Neurophysiology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Physiology.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 5.03. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 5.02 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 40.72 (source consulted: Dimensions Apr 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-04-29, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 96
  • Scopus: 107
  • Europe PMC: 64
  • OpenCitations: 101
Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-04-29:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 364.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 363 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 79.95.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 3 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 109 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Portugal.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Rubio Ballester, Belén) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Verschure, Paul.