Stroke research at Southampton
When it comes to stroke research, our academics here at the University of Southampton are true world leaders. We undertake stroke research principally in the area of rehabilitation. That's because nowadays more and more people are surviving and living longer following a stroke.
Every year about 150,000 people in the UK suffer a stroke and approximately one third require rehabilitation to help them recover movement and independence. As a result, this is putting an increasing strain on NHS resources. Traditional one-to-one and technology led rehabilitation is expensive, so there is a great need for stroke research that concentrates on rehabilitation.
Over the years, our stroke research specialists have made significant advances in developing and evaluating technologies to aid the recovery of movement and independence. From the mid-nineties our team has investigated how innovative technologies can provide more effective and efficient rehabilitation methods.
We began our work by conducting the first randomised controlled trial using functional electrical stimulation, which demonstrated improvement in walking and patient benefit. Our stroke researchers then turned to the problems reported by patients in using this technology and formed a collaboration to develop and evaluate a solution. This led to the first clinical trials of implanted micro-stimulators in post-stroke patients and an implanted device to help walking.
Since then our stroke research team has conducted a series of studies combining electrical stimulation with robot therapy using control algorithms previously only applied to industrial processes. These studies demonstrated both feasibility and improvement in small samples of stroke patients and research groups worldwide are now developing this approach. And now, our rehabilitative stroke research is progressing towards development of a low-cost home based system.
In response to government objectives for improving stroke rehabilitation, our researchers have made significant advances in developing and evaluating technologies to aid the recovery of movement and independence. This has directly translated into clinical practice and home use, benefitting patients in many countries.
Our team's stroke rehabilitation research has also practically addressed the need to provide home-based rehabilitation for stroke patients through the development of a website, currently being tested in a clinical trial, aimed at supporting and motivating patients undergoing rehabilitation therapy at home.
At Health Sciences we have world class academics who conduct ground breaking clinical research to find answers for the big questions that still remain.
If you are interested in finding out more, then just take a look at the information on stroke research on our Health Sciences research website
Every year about 150,000 people in the UK suffer a stroke and approximately one third require rehabilitation to help them recover movement and independence. As a result, this is putting an increasing strain on NHS resources. Traditional one-to-one and technology led rehabilitation is expensive, so there is a great need for stroke research that concentrates on rehabilitation.
Over the years, our stroke research specialists have made significant advances in developing and evaluating technologies to aid the recovery of movement and independence. From the mid-nineties our team has investigated how innovative technologies can provide more effective and efficient rehabilitation methods.
We began our work by conducting the first randomised controlled trial using functional electrical stimulation, which demonstrated improvement in walking and patient benefit. Our stroke researchers then turned to the problems reported by patients in using this technology and formed a collaboration to develop and evaluate a solution. This led to the first clinical trials of implanted micro-stimulators in post-stroke patients and an implanted device to help walking.
Since then our stroke research team has conducted a series of studies combining electrical stimulation with robot therapy using control algorithms previously only applied to industrial processes. These studies demonstrated both feasibility and improvement in small samples of stroke patients and research groups worldwide are now developing this approach. And now, our rehabilitative stroke research is progressing towards development of a low-cost home based system.
In response to government objectives for improving stroke rehabilitation, our researchers have made significant advances in developing and evaluating technologies to aid the recovery of movement and independence. This has directly translated into clinical practice and home use, benefitting patients in many countries.
Our team's stroke rehabilitation research has also practically addressed the need to provide home-based rehabilitation for stroke patients through the development of a website, currently being tested in a clinical trial, aimed at supporting and motivating patients undergoing rehabilitation therapy at home.
At Health Sciences we have world class academics who conduct ground breaking clinical research to find answers for the big questions that still remain.
If you are interested in finding out more, then just take a look at the information on stroke research on our Health Sciences research website
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