Functional Assessment

A well-trained therapist with at least 5 years’ experience was assigned to conduct the assessment. The therapist was blinded to the experimental assignments and treatment. The instructions of all the assessments were fully followed. Assessments include the Fugl–Meyer Assessment (FMA) for motor impairment, the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) for activity of daily living, and the short-form 36-item health survey questionnaire (SF-36) for quality of live. The items and instructions of the above assessments can be found elsewhere (10–12). The scores were recorded according to the results of body check, physical examination, and interlocution.