A HUNTER study is using telehealth technology to bring exercise programs into the homes of stroke patients to support their recovery.
Exercise scientist and PhD student Margaret Galloway is the friendly face on the other side of the computer, running study participants through the interactive exercise program, and offering support and advice.
“We know that people after stroke have particularly low levels of fitness, and that can contribute to their risk of having another stroke,” Ms Galloway said.
“But after stroke a lot of people aren’t able to drive, so to get to exercise facilities is quite difficult, so this is a way for them to be able to exercise regularly from home.”
Ms Galloway’s study was researching what types of exercise, and how much exercise, patients ought to be doing to decrease their risk of having another stroke.
“It’s interactive. We’re also monitoring their heart rate to make sure they are exercising at a safe level, and at a level that is high enough to improve their fitness.”
Ms Galloway said they were looking for more volunteers to become involved in the study during National Stroke Week.
It comes as the Stroke Foundation launched its new clinical care guidelines for Australia, the first update since 2010, to ensure patients receive optimum management and treatment.
Associate professor Coralie English, of Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle, was one of two Australian industry experts who oversaw the content of the updated guidelines.
Associate professor English said the development of the guidelines was an extensive process that took two years, involved almost 100 health professionals and researchers across 21 different healthcare disciplines, and distilled information from almost 110,000 reviewed research abstracts from around the globe.
She encouraged anyone who had suffered a stroke to join the Hunter Stroke Research Volunteer Register via the HMRI website.
