Title: Automatic Assessment of Gait Impairment and Recovery in Stroke
Funder: Health and Care Research Wales (Welsh Government)

Abstract: The project aims for developing a wearable movement monitoring system for a brain disease that impacts 100,000 British citizen each year and cost £26 billion to society: Stroke. Quantitative assessment of movement using wearable technology will help evaluate disease progression and effects of treatment. In addition, it is poised to reduce inappropriate variation in clinical assessments across Wales by providing objective gait measurements (i.e. promoting consistence of service). In the future, it will empower patients to monitor their own recovery and will open new avenues for extending health care services to households. Collecting data over long periods in more natural settings will reveal new insights into stroke outcomes. As we know more about stroke affects movement, it will be easier to identify patients with greatest health need and offer personalized rehabilitation programs addressing the identified needs. The specific aims of the project are: 1) Monitor recovery of stroke patients during exercise training, 2) Identify how stroke related changes in the brain affect movement 3) Observe patients in clinical settings and evaluate the effectiveness of conventional rehabilitation programs including physio and occupational therapy. The project is highly interdisciplinary and involves collaborative working between health-care professionals (i.e. consultant physicians and research nurses specialized in stroke) and academics from Computer Science, Neuroscience and Exercise Physiology.

Lay abstract: The project aims for developing a wearable movement monitoring system for a brain disease that impacts 100,000 British citizen each year and cost £26 billion to society: Stroke. Quantitative assessment of movement using wearable technology will help evaluate disease progression and effects of treatment. In addition, it is poised to reduce inappropriate variation in clinical assessments across Wales by providing objective gait measurements (i.e. promoting consistence of service). In the future, it will empower patients to monitor their own recovery and will open new avenues for extending health care services to households. Collecting data over long periods in more natural settings will reveal new insights into stroke outcomes. As we know more about stroke affects movement, it will be easier to identify patients with greatest health need and offer personalized rehabilitation programs addressing the identified needs. The specific aims of the project are: 1) Monitor recovery of stroke patients during exercise training, 2) Identify how stroke related changes in the brain affect movement 3) Observe patients in clinical settings and evaluate the effectiveness of conventional rehabilitation programs including physio and occupational therapy. The project is highly interdisciplinary and involves collaborative working between health-care professionals (i.e. consultant physicians and research nurses specialized in stroke) and academics from Computer Science, Neuroscience and Exercise Physiology.

Research activity codes: 4.2 EVALUATION OF MARKERS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Health categories: STROKE