News

According to a recent analysis from the @OfficeForNationalStatistics, the average stroke survivor loses £18,785 in earnings over a five year period, from the moment of their diagnosis. This is more than:

▪️Cancer
▪️Heart failure
▪️Heart attack
▪️Chronic kidney disease
▪️Diabetes
▪️Respiratory conditions
▪️Musculoskeletal conditions

From these conditions, stroke survivors were also least able to stay in permanent employment, four years after their diagnosis. This is clear evidence that more needs to be done to provide financial security for stroke survivors and their families, and yet the current Government insists on making it more difficult for people living with disabilities and long-term health conditions to access benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

We already know how difficult stroke survivors find the process of applying for PIP, and how many people are unsuccessful. If the Government continues with its current plan to introduce stricter measures and barriers to PIP and financial support, more and more stroke survivors are going to be left with less and less.

The largest study of a spatial inattention therapy to take place anywhere in the world is underway at the University of East Anglia and taking place at eight major stroke centres across England.

There are 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, with an estimated 390,000 of those suffering from spatial inattention. The condition can be highly persistent, with 40% of stroke survivors continuing to experience symptoms a year post-stroke.

Currently there is no effective treatment for spatial inattention. This new trial is helping to fill the gap in the urgent search for successful treatments.

A stroke is caused by blood supply being cut off to part of the brain, killing brain cells. This can affect the brain’s ability to interpret information. In some cases, this can make the stroke survivor lose attention to things on one side of their body. This means that even if they have good eyesight, their brain does not process the information it’s getting from the impaired side, resulting in a disabling cognitive condition called ‘spatial inattention’ or ‘spatial neglect’.   

SIGHT (Spatial Inattention Grasping Therapy) requires those suffering from spatial neglect to grasp and balance rods with their less affected hand. Because of the condition, the rods tilt during the first attempts, but feeling and seeing the rod tilt improves performance, which in turn increases attention to the impaired side. 

The study will also explore why some people benefit more from therapy than others. To help identify who might benefit most, the trial will measure grasping, vision, cognition, stroke severity and brain structure and function.

There is currently no effective treatment for spatial inattention and people affected by it often have poor recovery and long-term disability. However this new therapy, SIGHT, has already shown some early promise in improving the condition. This low-cost, portable therapy, if found to be effective at improving inattention, could benefit millions of people around the world.

A Canadian research group has found evidence not only that doing more exercise is associated with greater gains in function and motor recovery but that cardiorespiratory exercise aids stroke recovery by promoting neuroplasticity.

Despite the benefits of cardio exercise early post-stroke, physiotherapists perceive that people who have had a stroke have rehabilitation goals related to improving physical function rather than addressing physiological impairments underlying function such as low cardiorespiratory fitness, which leads them to de-prioritize cardio exercise during limited therapy time.

Few clinical trials investigating the benefits of doing cardio exercise during stroke rehabilitation on functional recovery have been conducted to date but systematic reviews have reported that people with stroke who complete cardio exercise experience improved certain aspects of cognitive function, such as attention and processing speed, but not memory, problem-solving, executive function, or working memory.

Providing further evidence for a link between cardio exercise and improved outcomes, the group found that higher total time spent in cardio exercise correlated with greater improvement in total FIM (Functional Independence Measure), FIM motor and cognitive sub-scores, FAC, and CMSA arm, leg, and foot scores. These results indicate that a higher dose (ie, increased duration) of cardio exercise could lead to greater gains in functional independence.

Sarah Thompson, Augustine J. Devasahayam, Cynthia J. Danells, David Jagroop, Elizabeth L. Inness, Avril Mansfield,
Cardiorespiratory exercise during rehabilitation is associated with improved functional recovery early post-stroke: A cohort study,
Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Volume 68, Issue 8, 2025.

Read more at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877065725000715

A new “orange” ambulance category will be introduced in Wales this winter to improve emergency care for stroke patients currently grouped within broader amber calls. Under the new system, specialist nurses and paramedics will screen 999 calls to identify patients with stroke or STEMI heart attacks—where blood flow to the heart is completely blocked—who need a faster response and specialist care before arriving at hospital.

The aim is to better direct time-critical cases to specialist pre-hospital treatment. Stroke patients are currently within the amber category, which covers about 70 per cent of all 999 calls in Wales. The new orange category will not have a specific response time target, but average and longest response times will be recorded, along with the type and quality of care provided before hospital arrival.

Alongside orange, two additional categories will replace the current amber group: yellow, for cases requiring further clinical assessment to determine the best response, and green, for issues such as blocked catheters that may need community care or planned transport. The changes follow updates earlier this month to how the most urgent 999 calls are categorised. A purple category was introduced for patients in cardiac or respiratory arrest, and a red emergency category for cases such as major trauma. These categories carry a target average response time of six to eight minutes. A “video triage” pilot scheme is also underway in five areas, allowing paramedics to consult hospital stroke specialists in real time before the patient arrives.

A just-published systematic review and meta-analysis confirms the reason why, since 2001, one of the 3 parts of ARNI rehab has ALWAYS been (stroke-specific) strength training. Just published in the BMJ’s British Journal of Sports Medicine the review, entitled ‘Prescribing strength training for stroke recovery’ concludes that:

‘Training alone or combined with usual care improves stroke recovery outcomes and more frequent strength training, power-focused intensities and traditional programme designs may best support stroke recovery’.

More frequent strength training, traditional strength training programmes and power-focused intensities (ie, emphasis on movement velocity) were also positively associated with walking capacity, health-related quality of life and fast-paced walking speed.

(Eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, EMCARE, AMED, PsycINFO, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science) and two clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) were searched from inception to 19 June 2024. )

Noguchi KS, Moncion K, Wiley E, et al. Prescribing strength training for stroke recovery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2025;59:185-197.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/59/3/185

Incorporating higher-intensity walking into early stroke rehabilitation significantly improves patient outcomes, including mobility and quality of life; new research suggests that higher-intensity exercise, including walking, during the initial phase of stroke rehabilitation leads to better recovery outcomes.

A specific protocol called “Walk ‘n Watch” has been developed to increase the intensity of walking exercises in stroke rehabilitation.

This protocol has been successfully implemented in real-world rehabilitation settings, demonstrating its feasibility and effectiveness in improving patient mobility and quality of life. Patients who participate in this higher-intensity walking program show improvements in walking distance, speed, and overall quality.

The study also found that stroke patients in inpatient rehabilitation following the implementation of high-intensity stepping training took significantly more steps per day compared to those receiving usual care.

These improvements are not only statistically significant but also clinically meaningful, indicating a tangible difference in patients’ ability to walk and perform daily activities. Click to Walk n Watch for more.

These can all be achieved by you to a certain degree, however old you are, if you want them badly enough and are prepared to sacrifice some time and effort.

Can a generic programme be created? For example, is there one ‘programme’ that will fit everyone? It would be much easier that way, right? The simple answer is ‘no’. But there are many things that all stroke survivors must do, and many things that most will need to do.

The ARNI Approach preaches the superiority of simplicity and slow and steady mini-successes over the fast talk, fast supply, fast gains and fast losses that seem to characterise modern life and by extension, how you view stroke recovery. It needs no special preparation to understand, and can be accessed regardless of present activity level. Each exercise has enough variety and progressions attached to keep you challenged and incrementally recovering.

Remember, this ‘retraining’ can phase into an enjoyable and social physical activity wherein you are actively rehabilitating. So encouragingly, it seems that ‘formal training’   is finite… but it must be done right. And try to grow to enjoy your rehabilitation now, strange though this may seem. For you will be harnessing the tension and release of your own creative force during the process. To be aware of this is an amazing thing.

Stroke, however, can rob you of the ability to enjoy life much and may leave you with a host of emotions, none of which are likely to help you feel like being creative. Equally you may think that ‘enjoying rehabilitating’ is a silly notion, what with everything you’ve been through. We hope that starting ARNI retraining with a trainer or just by yourself with the help of Successful Stroke Survivor, Had a Stroke? Now What and/or the 7 ARNI anytime-view streaming videos playable from dashboard (see the Product section  to inspire you to examine your limitations and get to grips with them yourself by being proactive. Everything you do will rewire your brain: by doing more, you WILL incrementally develop more motor control and gain strength. You will ‘get nothing by doing nothing’.