Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Objectives Exercise programmes studied after stroke often involve specialist supervision. Determine the feasibility and safety for people with stroke (PwS) or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) participating in readily accessible, non-stroke specialised, community-based exercise programmes.
Methods Participants were recruited into a structured, group-based, 12-week programme of aerobic and resistance exercise delivered two times per week at one of five local leisure centres. Completion rates, successful attainment of intended exercise intensity (Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE)) and safety outcomes were recorded. Measures of physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) and blood pressure (BP) were recorded at baseline and day 1 post intervention.
Results 79% of participants completed >75% of the intended sessions, with >90% attainment of intended RPE. Exercise was safe with no serious and very few minor adverse events related to exercise. Exercise led to significant increases in EQ-5D (Best of Health p<0.001), levels of weekly moderate physical activity (p<0.001) and decreases in systolic BP (mean change [95% CI]=−5.4 mmHg [−2.84 to −7.96]; p<0.001).
Conclusion Generalised exercise programmes delivered through existing local services, appears feasible, safe and may improve quality of life, physical activity and systolic BP, for PwS and TIA.
- Exercise rehabilitation
- Community
- Cardiovascular
- Feasibility
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Contributors AA planned and designed the study and supervised all aspects of the study including recruitment, follow-up, data collection and analysis and manuscript writing. SB performed data collection and analysis and all authors contributed to the manuscript writing.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Ethics approval NHS ethical approval for the study was obtained (REC ref 16/YH/0317) and patients consented to participation.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer-reviewed.
Data availability statement The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author (AA). The data are not publicly available due to restrictions on information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.