January 7, 2023

Kelowna stroke survivor Jennifer Monaghan is now working on a UBC-O research study into the effectiveness of a telerehabilitation program to improve walking, balance and self-management after stroke.
Jennifer had a devastating stroke ten years ago, that initially left her unable to speak or more her right side, but now she gets the chance to improve recovery for others from the Interior Health region who also have a stroke through TRAIL (TeleRehabilitation with Aims to Improve Lower extremity recovery poststroke).

Dr. Brodie Sakakibara of UBC-Okanagan is co-directing this research effort. TRAIL is a four-week, eight-session program of progressive exercise and self-management support delivered via video-conferencing by trained telerehabilitation therapists.

Many people recovering from stroke receive minimal to no follow-up rehabilitation after returning to the community. They commonly report unmet rehabilitation needs, particularly for recovery of walking and balance. As a result, effective and accessible community-based programs are needed to extend rehabilitation beyond the hospital setting. According to Jennifer, “There was nothing like this available for me. I see the opportunity for this research to help so many more people who have a stroke especially across rural and remote areas of our region.”

Rapid growth in Internet use and personal mobile technologies has opened an array of possibilities to deliver rehabilitation to people in their homes and communities. However, there is a lack of research into telerehabilitation for the delivery of physical interventions focused on lower extremities.

In the TRAIL study, participants will be randomized into TRAIL, which focuses on exercise and self-management support, or a group that focuses on Education of cardio-metabolic and behavioural risk factors known to affect health. Jennifer is the Education group therapist. According to her, “I encourage all people who have had a stroke to participate in research. Health care researchers need us to in order to improve health care.”

The end goal is to inform best practices in virtual care and have widespread application in practice when access to in-person rehabilitation is not feasible, such as in rural, remote and underserviced areas, or when physical-distancing measures are needed.
Participants need to be over 19 years old, within 12 month of a stroke, have weakness in the legs due to the stroke, have a helper on hand, have an email address, able to walk 10m without physical assistance and able to tolerate 50 minutes of activity with rest breaks as needed.
To learn more about TRAIL, contact [email protected] or [email protected]