An innovative study of rehabilitation therapies for BCHC patients who have experienced a stroke has provided valuable evidence that remote rehabilitation works for stroke patients.
The study was a partnership between University of Birmingham (UOB), with patients of Ward 8 in Moseley Hall Hospital (MHH) volunteering to take part.
Steve Grady, 54, from Birmingham took part in a study to help improve the walking ability and quality of life in patients that have experienced a stroke. Whilst one half of the project group took part in classes educating them how to walk safely, the other half were given a booklet with exercises, tools to assess their confidence and monitor their progress and taught to set their own goals to keep them motivated.
Since having a stroke in November 2021 Steve, who works in the automotive industry, has been working on ways to strengthen his walking and mobility. He was invited to join the study through a friend who had also suffered a stroke around the same time and treated at MHH.
As the study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, all elements were delivered online via Zoom with participants doing their exercises in their own living rooms. Despite not being in the same physical space as the other participants, Steve believes that being able to do the work in a group was beneficial.
“It gets lonely once your 12 weeks of NHS physio finishes, so I’m up for anything that helps me improve physically and mentally,” he said. “I signed up because I wanted to aid my recovery (but also so I could be part of a team).
“After I consented to taking part in the study, physiotherapists came to assess me at home to do some measures of what I could do, and then I started the Zoom sessions along with other participants.
Since taking part in the study, Steve has seen improvement in his walking and mobility, but he still uses a functional electrical stimulation (FES) when walking long distances – a device that strengthens movements that have been weakened when a person has had a stroke.
“I have improved from the study as I can now walk around the house and do short distances. I know it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon! It is a daily struggle living with the effects of a stroke mentally and physically. But I am determined to get stronger each week.”
Many participants in the study perceived that they had improved in their walking ability and illustrates that remote rehabilitation works for stroke patients. The team that works on the study are keen to conduct further research on self-management of stroke rehabilitation through remote technology as it will help to overcome staffing and resource shortages in the NHS.
Sheeba, associate professor in the School of Sports Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at UOB said, “We have learnt a lot about resilience in healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic. This work carried out during the pandemic is evidence that incorporation of self-management for chronic conditions and adopting use of remote technology for rehabilitation is feasible and vital for long-term care.”
The Ward 8 team is led by consultant physiotherapist for stroke services Carron Sintler, who said: “This study was a great opportunity to offer personalised rehabilitation, based on patients setting their own goals and being supported to make long term health changes to live well after a stroke. Steve has done that wholeheartedly and helped us to show that this approach could help a wide range of people.”
For more information please contact Sheeba Rosewilliam, s.b.rosewilliam@bham.ac.uk
Note: This account cannot be deemed as representative of all participants who took part.