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Telerehabilitation for Hand Function in Stroke Patients
Sponsor: University of Faisalabad
Summary
Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability worldwide, with upper limb impairment significantly reducing independence. Traditional outpatient rehabilitation poses challenges for patients with mobility limitations, financial constraints, or those living in remote areas. This randomized controlled trial compares the effects of conventional outpatient rehabilitation with and without adjunctive telerehabilitation on hand function and motor recovery in subacute stroke patients. Forty-eight participants will be randomly assigned to two groups: Group A receives conventional outpatient rehabilitation plus home-based telerehabilitation via WhatsApp video calls (30 minutes daily, 5 days/week for 6 weeks), while Group B receives conventional outpatient rehabilitation alone (same dose and content). Outcome measures include the Fugl-Meyer Assessment for Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), Box and Block Test (BBT), and Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES), assessed at baseline and after 6 weeks.
Official title: Effects of Conventional Outpatient Rehabilitation With and Without Adjunctive Telerehabilitation on Hand Function and Motor Recovery in Subacute Stroke Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 60 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
48
Start Date
2026-01-19
Completion Date
2026-07-28
Last Updated
2026-07-16
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Telerehabilitation with Conventional Therapy
Telerehabilitation is delivered via live WhatsApp video chats supervised by a physiotherapist. Each session lasts 30 minutes, five days per week for six weeks. The therapist observes participant setup, provides online verbal assistance, checks movement quality and safety, and modifies compensatory strategies. Participants receive essential equipment (small objects, balls, TheraBand) and an internet data bundle to support connectivity. The therapy protocol is standardized using the Upper Extremity Task Specific Training after Stroke by Lang and Birkenmeier and the Accelerated Skill Attainment Program (Cramer et al., 2019).
Conventional Outpatient Rehabilitation
Conventional outpatient rehabilitation is delivered on-site at neuro-physiotherapy outpatient departments of participating hospitals. Sessions run 30 minutes each, five days per week for six weeks, using the same exercise content, dosage, and progression criteria as the telerehabilitation group. Exercise components include: warm-up and proximal activation (shoulder shrugs, scapular retraction, trunk forward lean weight bearing) for 5 minutes, followed by task-oriented and strengthening exercises (reaching tasks, grasp and release, transfer of objects) for 20 minutes. A physiotherapist provides direct hands-on supervision, checks movement accuracy, and adjusts difficulty levels in real-time based on participant progress.
Locations (1)
The University of Faisalabad
Faisalābad, Punjab Province, Pakistan