Rehab is not a place – it’s a process

Outpatient rehabilitation after stroke is becoming more widely adopted within healthcare. Here, we look at the ways GripAble can support outpatient stroke rehab

Recently there has been a shift from inpatient to outpatient rehabilitation for stroke patients. Through more active and engaged patients, cost effective practices, and improved outcomes; outpatient therapy has the ability to provide opportunity and comfort for patients, providers, family members and caregivers alike.

Why outpatient rehabilitation?

There are several reasons why individuals are opting for earlier discharge and outpatient therapy:

Community integration:

Outpatient therapy allows for earlier discharge of stroke rehabilitation patients into the community. Evidence suggests that supporting community integration will keep patients more active and engaged throughout their rehabilitation journey. In addition, the influence of family or caregiver support during intensive therapy can result in improved functional outcomes compared to conventional therapy alone.

Maintain gains:

Stroke rehabilitation outpatient therapy has been shown to help to maintain gains made in inpatient stroke rehabilitation and ultimately improve patient outcomes. Individuals are able to put into practice the skills they developed during inpatient therapy and repeat them in real life scenarios with the support of family and caregivers.

Fnancially friendly:

Patients are often kept in expensive inpatient stroke rehabilitation beds longer than is necessary due to a lack of outpatient options, which causes backlogs and issues with flow. Outpatient stroke rehabilitation is relatively inexpensive when compared to the resources required for patients to stay in an inpatient facility.

Shifting stroke recovery to an outpatient setting can help refocus resources, reducing the burden on overstretched care professionals.

Additionally, research validates that patients are more likely to benefit from therapy in their homes versus an inpatient setting.

Bernhardt et al. found that “on a stroke unit during a therapeutic day, stroke patients were shown to spend their time largely inactive. More than 50 per cent of patients’ time was spent in bed, 28 per cent was spent sitting out of bed and only 13 per cent of time was spent in therapeutic activities. Patients were alone for 60 per cent of the time which is contrary to the evidence that increased activity and environmental stimulation is important to neurological recovery.”

How GripAble can support outpatient rehabilitation

When promoting outpatient rehabilitation options, some challenges can occur. Patient adherence and realistic, yet impactful therapy activities are crucial to consider.

This raises several questions:

•  What activities provide the intensity required for neuroplastic changes?
• How do we keep patients engaged?
• How can we ensure quality of movement?

With these questions in mind, GripAble offers a clear solution. GripAble is a gamified rehabilitation platform, offering both assessment and training of the upper limb. It delivers gamified therapy activities, digital assessment, and data-driven insights into a patient’s function.

The handheld GripAble device connects to an app on a tablet, where the user can be assessed and play a range of engaging games and activities that focus on training the different aspects of grip, hand and wrist movement. Through these fun and engaging activities, GripAble helps individuals to stay motivated with their rehabilitation.

A prime candidate to receive GripAble’s unique rehabilitation includes individuals with arm weakness after a stroke who are able and motivated to follow regimes independently or with the support of a caregiver. Therapists can set daily goals and assess an individual’s activity against these goals. Users get real-time feedback on their performance and can save and send their activity reports to their therapist.

GripAble was designed with outpatient remote rehabilitation at its heart by enabling ongoing hand and arm therapy at home, proving that rehabilitation is not a place — it is a process.

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