Additional Physiotherapy Sessions Focussing on Arm Rehabilitation for People After Stroke During the Early Inpatient Period? A Feasibility Study

Weakness in the arm is common after stroke and can affect stroke survivors' ability to perform some tasks. Studies show that extra sessions of arm exercise can help them to improve their arm function and that the first 3 months is the best time to gain these benefits. A website (www.webbasedphysio.com) has been developed and evaluated for delivering and monitoring physiotherapy exercise programmes. This website has been modified for people after stroke. The purpose of this study is to assess if doing extra physiotherapy for the arm through our web-based physio website gives any extra benefits to the usual physiotherapy received on the ward. A total of 30 stroke survivors will be recruited from the acute stroke unit of Hairmyres Hospital, NHS Lanarkshire, and will be randomised into two groups: intervention (15) and control (15). The control group will receive usual care and the intervention group will receive usual care plus an augmented and individualised 4 weeks upper limb exercise programme delivered by the web-based physio. The augmented programme will comprise upper limb and trunk exercises. The duration and intensity of the programme will be based on participants' level of functional ability. For participants with low exercise capacity, the overall time of the exercise will be less to begin with and will build up over time to 30 minutes, five sessions per week (including weekends), in addition to their usual physiotherapy care. Study assessments will be at baseline, and four weeks post-intervention or just before stroke survivors are discharged, if earlier. At the end of the study, the feedback from physiotherapy staff, stroke survivors in the intervention group and their carer on the augmented web-based physiotherapy will be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively by three questionnaires.