ObjectivesThis randomized controlled trial evaluates the effects of two different rest periods between as set of balance exercises after stroke during inpatient rehabilitation.ResultsTwenty patients after stroke [11 males; mean (SD) age 65.4 (11.5) years; duration of illness 5.3 (3.4) weeks; 16 (80%) left-sided strokes] were randomly allocated into two groups of either a full rest (FR) of 4 min (n = 10) or a short rest (SR) of 1 min between exercise sets (n = 10). Patients improved from baseline until immediately after exercises in one-leg standing time on the affected leg [SR: mean difference 5.1 s (SD 10.3) and FR: 2.0 s (2.4)] and tandem standing time (TST). [SR: 14.9 s (SD 24.6) and FR: 5.7 s (12.0)], but OLST and TST did not differ significantly between groups (p = 0.35 and p = 0.52, respectively).Trial registration The study was registered retrospectively in the German Register of Clinical Trials with the ID: DRKS00013979Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3450-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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