Stroke is a common global health-care problem that is serious and disabling. In
high-income countries, stroke is the third most common cause of death and is the main
cause of acquired adult disability.Stroke rehabilitation is a combined and coordinated
use of medical, social, educational, and vocational measures to retrain a person who has
suffered a stroke to his/her maximal physical, psychological, social, and vocational
potential, consistent with physiologic and environmental limitations . In a classic
report, Twitchell described in detail the pattern of motor recovery following stroke. At
onset, the upper extremity (UE) is more involved than the lower extremity (LE), and
eventual motor recovery in the UE is less than in the LE. The severity of UE weakness at
onset and the timing of the return of movement in the hand are important predictors of
eventual motor recovery in the UE. A systematic review of 58 studies confirms the most
important predictive factor for upper limb recovery following stroke is the initial
severity of motor impairment or function . The prognosis for return of useful hand
function is unfavorable when UE paralysis is complete at onset or grasp strength is not
measurable by 4 weeks. However, as many as 9% of patients with severe UE weakness at
onset may gain good recovery of hand function. As many as 70% of patients showing some
motor recovery in the hand by 4 weeks make a full or good recovery.Full recovery, when it
occurs, usually is complete within 3 months of onset . Although most recovery from stroke
takes place in the first 3 months, and only minor additional measurable improvement
occurs after the 6 months following onset, recovery may continue over a longer period of
time in some patients who have significant partial return of voluntary movement (8). A
variety of laboratory approaches to assess motor recovery have been proposed, but the
functional scales of balance measures are most commonly applied to stroke patients in
clinical settings. To date, different functional scales measuring motor recovery have
been developed and used in stroke research However, only a few are specifically designed
for stroke patients. The Fugl-Meyer test (FMA) and the stroke Rehabilitation assessment
of movement (STREAM) and the Rivermead movement assessment (RMA) are the most commonly
used for measuring motor recovery in stroke patients. As a consequence, researchers and
clinicians have found that they are faced with a greater range of choices but limited
information on which to base their selection. No reported studies have concurrently
compared the psychometric properties of the 3 measures, the FMA,