Did you know that currently, significant strides are being made in cognitive rehabilitation for stroke survivors, moving beyond traditional methods to leverage technology and neuroplasticity. Research is uncovering new avenues to help individuals regain and improve memory, attention, and executive functions impacted by a stroke. Key advances include:
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs): This emerging technology translates brain signals into computer commands, allowing patients to control devices and engage in rehabilitative activities directly with their minds. BCIs aim to stimulate neuroplasticity and promote cortical reorganisation, showing promise particularly for those with more severe impairments.
Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS): Techniques like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulate electrical activity in affected brain regions. NIBS is being explored as an adjunct therapy to enhance neural plasticity and maximise the effects of cognitive and physical training, even in chronic stroke phases.
Virtual Reality (VR) Therapy: Immersive VR environments are being used to create interactive, simulated tasks that challenge and train cognitive skills in engaging ways. Studies show that VR can enhance daily cognitive tasks, with some research indicating it may be more effective than non-VR interventions for memory and cognition.
ARNI understands that further research is crucial to validate the long-term efficacy of these new approaches through larger-scale clinical trials. Biomarkers and improved patient stratification are needed to determine who benefits most from specific interventions.
#strokerehab #cognitiverehabilitation #Neuroplasticity #VirtualReality #braincomputerinterface #nibs #StrokeRecovery #neurology #RehabilitationScience
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Approximately 40% of stroke survivors experience this difficulty: to comprehend or produce spoken or written language caused by a cerebrovascular accident. In half of these cases the language impairment still persists one year post-stroke. Aphasia has wide-ranging effects on the ability to function and quality of life of stroke survivors and easily leads to social isolation.
If you need help, ARNI SLT Telerehab can now help YOU, right now, wherever you are in the world!
The latest evidence shows clearly that you can conquer aphasia very successfully with the help of speech and language therapy.
And it also shows that SLT Telerehab is just as effective as in-person, face to face treatment.
We have a team of highly experienced low-cost specialist SLTs (all post-grads from Universities such as UCL, the University of Cape Town etc) who are available to help you right now, in your home, via Zoom. You get a one to one hourly service, based around your diary needs, from the comfort of your own home, with a highly experienced specialist speech and language therapist. Please enquire to arni.uk.com/get-remote-speech-language-help-now/ !
#aphasia #strokesurvivors #StrokeRecovery #strokerehabilitation #strokerehab #aphasiaawareness #neurorehabilitation #arni #exerciseafterstroke #strokeexercise #strokerecoveryexercises #Neuroplasticity #ARNIstrokerehab
www.arni.uk.com
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Are you a stroke survivor trying to strength train at home?? You need yourself the ARNI Bar! This innovative exercise bar is particularly designed for stroke survivors wanting to strength train at home.
Get yours now!!
Retrain safely, with a greater range of motion than with a usual bar, with Dr Tom’s Combo Bar!
Designed and patented by Dr Tom Balchin in 2012, and currently manufactured and sold by Primal Strength, Dr Tom’s Combo Bar was designed for people with limitations from stroke, who often have difficulties with arm extension (particularly with spasticity), requiring triceps stimulation.
Furthermore, people training after head trauma (often military personnel) who have required surgery (craniotomy) have to take care that triceps work with a bar doesn’t inadvertently impact upon scar tissue, thereby initiating or exacerbating epilepsy.
Dr Tom’s Combo Bar allows you to perform Lying or Seated Overhead Triceps Extensions BUT with some major advantages:
Firstly, the Shape of the Bar allows room for your head meaning you get a greater range of motion and more muscle fibre recruitment.
Secondly, the Neutral Grip Ergonomic Handles mean you not only get a better contraction of the lateral head of the triceps but you also minimise the stress on the elbows that often comes with this exercise.
This bar is also really great for variations of Standing Bicep Curls, with a better range of movement at the top position.
You can even use it for Standing or Seated Overhead Presses and by grasping the top handle enclosure, Standing or Bent-Over Rows. Squats, Shrugs or for Complexes!
This bar is great: it will take anything you can throw at it. Use it for every upper-body session.
Get this bar now and 100% of your purchase goes directly back to helping people with acquired or traumatic brain injury! arni.uk.com/product/dr-toms-combo-bar/
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The ARNI Institute | Charity For Stroke Survivors
www.arni.uk.com
The ARNI Institute is a UK Registered Charity: No. 1116130. Currently in our 20th year of voluntary work, we are committed to teaching stroke and other acquired injury survivors to gain better action ...
Are you a stroke survivor trying to strength train at home??
Then you need to get yourself a Dr Tom’s Combo Bar! It's seriously solid state and is only £99. This innovative exercise bar is particularly designed for stroke survivors wanting to strength train at home.
Get yours now!! Retrain safely as a stroke survivor, with a greater range of motion than with a usual bar, with Dr Tom’s Combo Bar.
Designed and patented by Dr Tom Balchin in 2012, and currently manufactured and sold by Primal Strength, Dr Tom’s Combo Bar was designed for people with limitations from stroke, who often have difficulties with arm extension (particularly with spasticity), requiring triceps stimulation.
Furthermore, people training after head trauma (often military personnel) who have required surgery (craniotomy) have to take care that triceps work with a bar doesn’t inadvertently impact upon scar tissue, thereby initiating or exacerbating epilepsy.
Dr Tom’s Combo Bar allows you to perform Lying or Seated Overhead Triceps Extensions BUT with some major advantages:
Firstly, the Shape of the Bar allows room for your head meaning you get a greater range of motion and more muscle fibre recruitment. Secondly, the Neutral Grip Ergonomic Handles mean you not only get a better contraction of the lateral head of the triceps but you also minimise the stress on the elbows that often comes with this exercise.
This bar is also really great for variations of Standing Bicep Curls, with a better range of movement at the top position.
You can even use it for Standing or Seated Overhead Presses and by grasping the top handle enclosure, Standing or Bent-Over Rows. Squats, Shrugs or for Complexes!
This bar is great: it will take anything you can throw at it. Use it for every upper-body session.
Get this bar now and 100% of your purchase goes directly back to helping people with acquired or traumatic brain injury. arni.uk.com/product/dr-toms-combo-bar/
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Here's a tip if you're faced with stairs that have no handrail/handrail on the wrong side.
Get the person with you to stand one step lower and put your hand on their shoulder for support while you take a step.
www.arn#Neuroplasticityp#strokerehabilitationb#StrokeRecoveryk#ARNIstrokerehabt#neurorehabn#ARNIstrokerehabt#stairsafterstrokefterstroke
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New research shows promising advancements for people living with aphasia after a stroke:
New discoveries in brain plasticity: recent studies are offering a deeper understanding of how the brain can rewire itself after a stroke. Researchers are using advanced brain imaging to see how certain therapies can engage intact brain regions, helping to recover language skills.
Bilingual patients benefitting from new modelling: computational modeling is now being used to help clinicians determine the most effective language for therapy in bilingual people with aphasia.
Focusing on intensive, early therapy: recent research confirms that receiving early, high-intensity speech and language therapy, ideally starting within a month of the stroke, can lead to the biggest gains in communication skills for survivor.
If you or a loved one is living with aphasia, consider discussing with ARNI about joining in to our much-loved aphasia
www.arni.uk.com
#strokeexercise #neurorehabilitation #strokerehab #ARNIstrokerehab #StrokeRecovery #aphasia #StrokeRecovery #strokeawareness #speechtherapy #neurology #healthcarenews #SayAphasia
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Why train standing up when it’s possible to train sitting down? There are a number of good reasons. The most obvious one is that we are practising ultimately for moving around on our feet, not practising for sitting on a chair.
In daily life, before you had a stroke, you were spending a good portion of your day on your feet. Time now to have a go at doing the best you can to regain standing position, with your weight as balanced between your two legs as possible. To maintain an upright position is essential for regaining strength in your lower body and to improve your balance. This leads to your ability to walk well. ‘Balance’ is simply your ability to hold your body vertical and keep that position while doing activities. Your balance keeps you from falling, and is controlled by several systems working together, sending and getting signals from your brain. A stroke can change your balance due to any (or all) of the following: an injury to one of the systems that controls stability, damage to the system connections to your brain or direct injury to your brain. A stroke can affect the way your sight, the receptors in your inner ears and your body sensors work together, and how the signals get to and from your brain. So, if you cannot see clearly, you may not be able to react to what is around you as easily as you did before. If you cannot sense where your head or trunk is positioned, your brain may have trouble knowing what signals to send to your muscles to keep your body upright. If you cannot feel and sense where your limbs are moving, it is hard for your brain to be sure where to send your limbs to for the next step. Balance control is an active process maintained by the central nervous system to keep the body upright. The brain relearns how to interpret the information and forms new movement plans to send out to your muscles to adjust for changes in your balance. These newly learned movement plans, over time, are stored in your brain. With lots of practice, your brain can begin to use the new movement plans in response to changes in your balance. Using moveable surfaces can help here, which is why therapists often use therapy balls, bolsters and rocker boards to challenge trunk control. Your brain must be able to take in the information from your environment and adjust your body so you stay balanced. If the part of your brain in charge of this task is injured from a stroke, the information may not be processed well. Your brain may also have trouble sending the right messages back to your muscles. By challenging your balance in training situations, the receptors are being retrained to pick up information. Which is why although it can be a scary thing to do, balance training is a very important part of your rehabilitation.
The second major reason for training on your feet is that you work harder than in a seated position, which is better for your general fitness. A recent study in Dalhousie University, Canada, placed the activities and heart rates of 20 stroke patients with ischemic stroke who participated in routine inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation, under observation. It was found that neither PT nor OT sessions elicited enough cardiovascular stress to induce a training effect. The patients involved in this study were only 2-14 weeks from the date of the stroke, but they already needed more intensive training than therapy could deliver. Interesting. This exactly mirrors my own experience too. How about you? It was also found in the study that activities that evoked the greatest heart rate increases were performed in the upright position and involved transitional movements. This information should be like gold-dust to the successful stroke survivor: it is just one more confirmation that the sooner you get up and get moving, the better.
From The Successful Stroke Survivor by Balchin, Tom.
www.arni.uk.com
If you like this post then please share it with others. Each time that you share a post, you can directly help other people – as who knows which people in the world might find us and gain, either directly from the charity or simply by being able to copy an ‘innovative and useful’ move/trick of the trade that might help them manage after stroke.
Every time you share, you could directly help someone – as knowledge is power 😉
#neurorehab #strokerehab #neuroplasticity #strokeexercise #arnistrokerehab #strokerecovery #strokerehabilitation
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From groundbreaking AI to immersive virtual reality, new advancements are helping survivors regain function and hope. Here's a look at what's new:
AI-Driven Diagnostics: New AI tools are being used to interpret brain scans and identify the best treatment options faster. In the NHS, a new system has helped doctors diagnose strokes over 60 minutes faster, potentially tripling the chances of a full recovery for some patients.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS): The FDA has approved a device that stimulates the vagus nerve during rehabilitation exercises. This "paired VNS" therapy, when combined with rehabilitation, has helped patients generate 2 to 3 times more hand and arm function than standard therapy alone, even years after their stroke.
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT): NMT is gaining traction for its transformative effects. By using rhythmic and melodic elements, this therapy can help improve gait, speech, and cognitive function by triggering new neural connections in the brain.
Virtual Reality (VR) Therapy: VR is making rehab more engaging and effective; studies are showing that combining VR games with traditional physical therapy can significantly improve arm function and mobility for survivors by increasing their engagement and the intensity of their sessions.
We think that these developments showcase a shift toward more personalised (and hopefully effective) recovery methods.
www.arni.uk.com
#Strokeexercise #Neurorehabilitation #Strokerehab #ARNIStrokerehab #StrokeRecovery #Rehabilitation #NeuroTech #StrokeAwareness #AITechnology #VirtualReality #MusicTherapy #VNS #HopeAfterStroke
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A new glove-based system that uses functional electrical stimulation (FES) to activate individual fingers could offer a more effective way to support hand rehabilitation in people recovering from stroke or spinal cord injuries.
The FESGlove delivers targeted electrical stimulation to specific hand muscles and nerves, offering greater selectivity than many current systems, which often cause unintended finger movements by stimulating larger forearm muscles.
The device features 10 independent stimulation channels and combines silver fiber and hydrogel electrodes within a stretchable glove. Users can adjust settings like frequency, current amplitude, and pulse width to suit different needs.
Developed by researchers at the University of Bath and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the glove was designed to overcome limitations in traditional rehabilitation techniques that often fail to restore the fine motor control needed for tasks like buttoning a shirt or typing.
The research team sees the FESGlove as a potential platform that could eventually be integrated with brain-computer interfaces and other advanced neurorehabilitation tools.
This study was published in the journal Neuroelectronics on June 2, 2025.
www.arni.uk.com
#strokerehab #neurorehabilitation #StrokeRecovery #functionalelecticalstimulation #neuroscience #medicaltechnology #FutureOfMedicine #strokeawareness #fes
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The future of stroke recovery is here, and it's full of exciting possibilities ;) 🚀🧠
For many reading this at ARNI Stroke Rehab, stroke rehabilitation has meant months of repetitive therapy with a slow, uncertain path forward. But advances in technology are paving the way for a new era of highly effective, personalised recovery.
Imagine a future where stroke survivors can:
🤖 Train with robotic devices: Wearable exoskeletons and robotic limbs can provide precise, high-intensity, and repetitive therapy, helping retrain the brain to form new connections.
🎮 Immerse themselves in virtual reality (VR): VR headsets create engaging, interactive games and simulations that make therapy more motivating, turning repetitive exercises into goal-oriented tasks.
🧠 Use their minds to move: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are learning to decode a person's thoughts to control robotic devices or stimulate muscles, restoring movement even in those with severe paralysis.
⚕️ Heal with regenerative medicine: Groundbreaking research in stem cell therapy shows promise in repairing damaged brain tissue at the cellular level.
For those with lived experience, these innovations offer new hope and for researchers and clinicians, they provide powerful tools to unlock the brain's full potential for recovery.
Are you or a loved one a stroke survivor? What tech innovation are you most excited about? Share your thoughts below! 👇
w#strokerehabo#neurorehabilitationo#StrokeRecovery##rehabilitation##neurosciencen#medicaltechnologyd#FutureOfMedicineu#strokeawarenessS#roboticse#VirtualReality##braincomputerinterfacemputerInterface
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Neuromodulatory non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques are experimental therapies for improving motor function after stroke. The aim of neuromodulation is to enhance adaptive or suppress maladaptive processes of post-stroke reorganisation. However, results on the effectiveness of these methods, which include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are mixed. It’s posited that recent developments in NIBS technology will likely contribute to individualised therapy. Moving beyond single-area stimulation, targeting specific muscle groups that play different roles in post-stroke motor recovery (for example, finger flexors vs. extensors) may well be possible using multi-locus TMS. NIBS in stroke faces a challenge reminiscent of the development of other stroke therapies, such as thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy, where early studies were largely mixed before patient selection and individualising protocols were refined to determine its therapeutic potential.
During sessions, you will watch a nature documentary while having very weak brain stimulation. Brain stimulation feels like a warm, tingling sensation on your head.
Ms. Jenny Lee
11 Comments
I would be very grateful if I could be included in your study. I had a stroke in 2014 which left me with left-sided stiffness, dropped left foot which affects my walking ability and a non-functional left arm and closed fisted left hand
Hi I’m 36 and have had a massive stroke but can walk but not much upper limb movement and I would like to be considered for this trial
Sorry about all the grammar and spelling errors.looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Roger
I apologise for the delay replying. The ReCAPS Study was on hold during lockdown, but is now up and running again.
If you are still interested in taking part, please send us your contact details.
We can be contacted via by email (carys.evans@ucl.ac.uk), by phone 0203 4488 774 or through our website.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Carys
I I would be more than intsrested to take part.I look forward to take part looking forward to your response,regards,Roger Humphreys.
following a massive stroke in 2015
I have significant paralysis of upper left arm, unfortunately I developed epilepsy afterwards, now fully controlled by medication, but would be interested to help with your study, if appropriate.
Regards
Andrew
Hi Andrew
Thank you for your message, and sorry for the delay. The ReCAPS Study was on hold during lockdown, but is now up and running again.
If you are still interested in taking part, please send us your contact details and we would be happy to discuss further.
We can be contacted via by email (carys.evans@ucl.ac.uk), by phone 0203 4488 774 or through our website.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Carys
Massive stroke October 2018 age 46, left side paralysis, I can walk, do have some arm movement back but not all, I would definitely be interested if possible?
Hi Michelle
Sorry for the late reply. The ReCAPS Study was on hold during lockdown, but is now up and running again.
If you are still interested in taking part, please send us your contact details and we would be happy to discuss further.
We can be contacted via by email (carys.evans@ucl.ac.uk), by phone 0203 4488 774 or through our website.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Carys
I completed upper -limb Programme
In 2019 ,found it really helped also took part in
(Ang s) research )
If you feel this would be beneficial to me
Please keep me posted
I at present still under
Queens Square
Re
(F E S) for lower limb
Thank you
Astonight Trundle
Hi Aston
Thank you for your message. I apologise for the delay replying. The ReCAPS Study was on hold during lockdown, but is now up and running again.
If you are still interested in taking part, please let us know.
We can be contacted via by email (carys.evans@ucl.ac.uk), by phone 0203 4488 774 or through our website.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Carys