Stroke is one of the world’s leading cause of disability and hence a first-of-its kind app that supports clinicians to develop best practice rehabilitation measures for patients with arm disabilities following a stroke is good news for millions of people.
The ViaTherapy app was developed through a worldwide collaboration of stroke rehab researchers including UniSA School of Health Sciences Physiotherapy (Rehabilitation).
ViaTherapy is a quick and easy decision-making tool for occupational therapists and physiotherapists to help them provide the best therapy approaches for arm rehabilitation in their patients based on their presentations.
An inbuilt algorithm helps guide therapy choices based on upon best research evidence for the movement the patient has, and the time elapsed since the stroke.
ViaTherapy app’s internal algorithm considers information fed by clinician including how long it has been since the patient’s stroke, how severe their impairment is and whether they have any additional medical conditions. The app then offers a list of suggestions of which rehabilitation exercises would best promote progress for the patient such as assessments of certain movements and electrical stimulation for motor recovery.
The right treatment for a patient today may not be the right treatment for them in three weeks so we have tried to capture how a clinician should evolve therapy to involve new treatments depending on how far along the patient is in their recovery.
The ViaTherapy app provides advice on whether therapy can be delivered in groups or if self-directed treatments are best so that patients can decide which therapy exercises they should do themselves as part of their home practice to enhance the benefits of the traditional stroke rehabilitation they receive.
This app also focusses on regular reassessment of the patient because we know that recovery can occur at any time and as soon as we some return of finger movement then it opens up a wide range of other treatment options to help regain full recovery of the affected arm.