Almost 300 Recommendation Updates Made to the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke in the UK in 2023

The National Clinical Guideline for Stroke is an organisation that provides authoritative, evidencebased practice guidance that improves the quality of care for every adult who has had a stroke in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland regardless of age, gender, type of stroke, location, or any other feature. This year alone, there were almost three-hundred recommendation updates made to the guideline.

What’s New in the 2023 Edition?

Out of 538 recommendations in The National Clinical Guideline for Stroke, almost 300 have been updated, added, or endorsed since the previous 2016 edition. These revisions range across different categories including the Organisation of Stroke Services, Acute Care, Rehabilitation and Recovery, and Long-term Management and Secondary Prevention.

Following a stroke many individuals experience motor skill challenges and set motor recovery goals while in rehabilitation.

The National Clinical Guideline for Stroke now states that these individuals should receive a minimum of 3 hours of multidisciplinary therapy a day. These efforts must be delivered or supervised by a therapist or rehabilitation assistant focused on exercise, motor retraining and/ or functional practice within 5 out of 7 days. (4.2A) GripAble is a mobile rehab platform for individuals with impaired hand, wrist or arm movement. It delivers gamified therapy activities, digital assessment, and data-driven insights into a patient’s function. In a number of ways, GripAble is a valuable solution for therapists striving to deliver care in alignment with the guidelines.

Why Consistent, Repetitive Movements are Essential for Stroke Patients

High repetition movements that are personalised to the individual's training needs, supports a rehabilitation regime that can prepare someone for full function tasks.

High dose, intensive rehabilitation yields faster and greater recovery in stroke patients.

A recent study carried out by researchers at Imperial College indicates that the GripAble device can significantly increase the amount of upper limb training exercises stroke survivors are able to complete. In a clinical trial of 30 patients, researchers found that the device enabled on average 104 upper limb repetitions per day, whereas conventional therapy achieved 15 repetitions per day. Co-author of the study, Dr. Paul Bentley states “The findings from this clinical trial provide evidence that GripAble can be adopted to help further support stroke patients with severe arm weakness with their rehabilitation unsupervised.”

The GripAble device is highly sensitive to just 100 grams of pressure and can be used by most patients, even those with limited grip or movement. The device is calibrated and personalised to each user’s ability with real time feedback to help build motivation and engagement.

Therapists may issue a GripAble device to be used in a clinical or home environment and once the device is calibrated to the individual's ability, the GripAble games offer a natural progression as the patient works through the levels, meaning they can continue to work towards their goals with ‘light touch’ input, which is perfect for motivated patients.

How GripAble Can Help Therapists Utilize Their Time Effectively

Once a therapist has set the device parameters, therapeutic goals, and achievements specific to the individual, patients are able to continue their rehabilitation practice outside of therapy sessions at a time and place convenient to them.

Depending on availability and the size of a clinic, time is known to be one of the therapist's biggest hurdles.

For therapists, the GripAble platform can assist in time management by reducing administrative tasks through its real time reporting capabilities. Since the device tracks goals and measurements accurately, therapists can view the natural progression to then relay to the patients how much they need to practice outside of therapy time. In addition, GripAble supports independent part practice between therapy sessions. This frees up the therapist to focus clinical time on more meaningful tasks, discharge planning and more.

How Telehealth Equipment Can Benefit Stroke Patients During Rehabilitation

According to revision 6.4D, stroke rehabilitation service providers should ensure that they have adequate equipment which includes the technology requirements that provide telerehabilitation to enable provision of the treatments recommended within this guideline.

Due to GripAble’s mobile compatibility, the device provides stroke patients with streamlined upper limb training opportunities and provides therapists the ability to better remotely track progress outside of therapy time. This gives therapists the tools to support even the most remote of patients through telerehabilitation.

GripAble Promotes Long Term Self-Management

Partial supervision is a bridge to self-management. This gives the patient an aspect of control during a therapy intervention, which can increase motor learning. GripAble does this through arm’s length supervision, choice of game, choice of movement, and more. This control allows them to take charge of their own learning process, often resulting in more active involvement and increased effort invested in practice.

GripAble is highly accessible

GripAble is highly accessible to most patients at all times. Even an immobile patient can work on upper limb rehabilitation goals whilst in bed. GripAble is a ‘serious game’ which combines entertainment, attentional engagement, and problem-solving to challenge function and performance — built with cognition in mind. Extremely sensitive calibration means even severely physically affected patients can access it.

The GripAble platform provides objective and validated assessments, outcome measures, and a chart of progress to support clinical decision making.

GripAble is available for direct purchase in the United Kingdom, and is distributed by Medline in the United States. For more information on how GripAble can be used in your therapy practice please contact hello@gripable.co