Residency Course

Advanced Physical Therapy Practice in Stroke Rehabilitation

Faculty: Jenni Moore PT, DHS, Board Certified Neurologic Physical Therapist and T. George Hornby PT, PhD

Course Description

More than 600,000 individuals/year survive a stroke, which often results in persistent lower extremity weakness, impaired coordination and involuntary motor behaviors (e.g. spasticity).  As a result of the stroke, many individuals undergo stroke rehabilitation to improve the ability to independently perform many functional tasks, including walking, rising from a chair, and maintaining balance, all of which limit mobility in the home and community.  Reduced mobility and decreased physical activity in the chronic stages of stroke may accelerate deterioration of cardiovascular and metabolic health, which further limits health and participation.  These combined impairments result in substantial health and economic costs to patients, their families and society; annual estimates suggest $34 billion (USD) are spent on health care services and loss of productivity post-stroke. Clinical use of interventions that maximize mobility outcomes could mitigate many of these personal and fiscal costs.

This course will describe the comprehensive evidence-based management of acute, sub-acute and chronic stroke.Stroke specific components of the physical therapy evaluation, condition-specific outcome measurement, and evidence-based treatment strategies will be presented.Course content includes case examples with a focus on clinical decision-making and application of the evidence directly to the care of patients undergoing rehabilitation.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

  1. Discuss 5 risk factors associated with having a stroke

  2. Describe 3 prognostic indicators of functional improvement after stroke

  3. Explain the clinical presentation of a person with middle cerebral artery stroke

  4. Describe the appropriate application of the core set of outcome measures in stroke rehabilitation

  5. Describe 3 condition specific outcome measurements that could be used in stroke rehabilitation

  6. Describe the dosing parameters (frequency, intensity, time, type) for application of aerobic training in stroke rehabilitation

  7. Describe the dosing parameters (frequency, intensity, time, type) for application of gait training in stroke rehabilitation

  8. Describe the dosing parameters (frequency, intensity, time, type) for application of resistance training in stroke rehabilitation

The online course will be launched in Aug, 2019

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