Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Protocol for a randomized controlled clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of Fast muscle Activation and Stepping Training (FAST) for improving balance and mobility in sub-acute stroke

I think this is the first time I've ever seen the word protocol in any stroke research paper.  Your doctor will have to get the full text so ask for it.
http://7thspace.com/headlines/491036/protocol_for_a_randomized_controlled_clinical_trial_investigating_the_effectiveness_of_fast_muscle_activation_and_stepping_training_fast_for_improving_balance_and_mobility_in_sub_acute_stroke.html
Following stroke, many people have difficulty activating their paretic muscles quickly and with sufficient power to regain their balance by taking quick and effective steps. Reduced dynamic balance and mobility following stroke, or `walking balance?, is associated with reduced self-efficacy and restrictions in daily living activities, community integration, and quality of life.

Targeted training of movement speeds required to effectively regain balance has been largely overlooked in post-stroke rehabilitation. The Fast muscle Activation and Stepping Training (FAST) program incorporates fast functional movements known to produce bursts of muscle activation essential for stepping and regaining standing balance effectively.

The purpose of this study is to: 1) compare the effectiveness of an outpatient FAST program to an active control outpatient physiotherapy intervention in improving walking balance following stroke, and 2) explore potential mechanisms associated with improvements in walking balance.Methods/DesignThis will be an assessor-blinded, parallel group randomized controlled trial design. Sixty participants (30 per group) who have sustained a stroke within the previous six months will be randomly assigned with stratification for lower limb motor recovery to receive twelve 45-minute 1:1 physiotherapy intervention sessions over 6 ? 10?weeks in an outpatient setting of either: 1) FAST intervention - systematic and progressive practice of fast squatting and stepping exercises, or 2) active control - conventional physiotherapy directed at improving balance and mobility that includes no targeted fast movement training.

The same blinded research physiotherapist will assess outcomes at three time points: 1) baseline (prior to intervention), 2) follow up (within one week post-intervention); and 3) retention (one month post-intervention). The primary outcome is dynamic balance assessed using the Community Balance and Mobility Scale.

We will also assess fast and self-selected walking speed, balance self-efficacy, and the ability to respond to internal and external perturbations to balance and associated changes in postural muscle activation.DiscussionThe targeted training of fast functional movements in the FAST program is expected to improve walking balance following stroke compared to the active control intervention. Unique to this study is the investigation of potential mechanisms associated with improvements in walking balance.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01573585

Author: Kimberly J MillerMichael A HuntCourtney L PollockDianne BryantS Garland
Credits/Source: BMC Neurology 2014, 14:187

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