Studies have shown that recovery of upper limb functioning (i.e. recovery of impairments and activity limitations, including skills) follows a pattern with a pronounced early post-stroke recovery and a subsequent leveling off already by 6 months post-stroke. In fact, it has been shown that 80% of patients reached a plateau within 3 weeks, and 95% reached a plateau by 9 weeks. It has also been shown that regaining hand dexterity is largely defined within the first 4 weeks after stroke , indicating a critical time window for recovery of upper limb functioning. Therefore rehabilitation efforts in the early post-stroke phase are likely decisive to maximize functional recovery. However, despite the fact that recovery is most likely in the immediate weeks after stroke, there are very few studies investigating the effect of therapeutic interventions in this time period.