Stroke can cause paralysis of some parts of the body and other difficulties with various physical functions. Physical rehabilitation is an important part of rehabilitation for people who have had a stroke. Over the years, various approaches to physical rehabilitation have been developed, according to different ideas about how people recover after a stroke. Often physiotherapists will follow one particular approach, to the exclusion of others, but this practice is generally based on personal preference rather than scientific rationale. Considerable debate continues among physiotherapists about the relative benefits of different approaches; therefore it is important to bring together the research evidence and highlight what best practice ought to be in selecting these different approaches