Innovating Community Fitness: Building Bridges from Research to Post-Stroke Rehab

Episode 67 - Innovating Community Fitness: Building Bridges from Research to Post-Stroke Rehab.

New National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines in the UK recommend stroke patients receive at least three hours of rehabilitation a day, five days a week. This is a dramatic increase from previous guidance of 45 minutes a day. Currently there are big gaps in service when it comes to supporting people with stroke after they’re discharged from care not only in the UK but worldwide. Often, survivors have nowhere to go to exercise and accessing a conventional gym for most is challenging and for some it’s impossible.

With our continued theme of exercise as the best medicine for stroke recovery, in this episode we are diving deeper into this topic to find solutions for expanding the reach of rehab into the community and highlighting champions innovating for more solutions to make these new rehab guidelines a reality.

Meet Our Guest: Dr Rachel Young PhD MSc, BSc  

Rachel is a senior research fellow at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre in Sheffield Hallam University. She is a chartered physiotherapist with expertise in neurological rehabilitation and exercise prescription. Rachel's research interests include the development and evaluation of rehabilitation technologies and accessible exercise solutions.  

In our discussion Dr. Young reminded us that the NICE guidelines of three hours are not the first to recommend extensive rehabilitation. The National Clinical Guidance for Stroke launched in March 2023 actually advised six hours of activity a day, which may include activities of daily living, communication and exercise.

We dove into why these guidelines sent a ripple through the stroke community, including how providers don’t have the workforce to meet these new recommendations. We also discussed her research and how she believes technology, in the form of accessible exercise equipment, apps and wearables has to be part of the solution if we’re to have any hope of meeting the guidelines.
Connect with our guest:  Linkedin |  Twitter/X  @physioyoung

Show Mentions:
Everyone’s Talking About: Stroke Rehab-Health Care Management Magazine Article
The Real Problem with Stroke: Co-Host David Dansereau’s Blog Post on

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