Get hold of the new ARNI Approach book/manual of strategies

       The Successful Stroke Survivor

        by Dr Tom Balchin

   

Click on the UCL logo below for a review of this book by a UCL Neuroscientist

Dr. Nick Ward, MD, FRCP

Reader in Clinical Neurology and Honorary Consultant Neurologist & Director, Neuroimaging of Plasticity and Recovery, Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London

Book/Manual details:

   545 PAGES (A4 format)

       140 illustrated strategies & techniques

690 illustrations and 367 photos

Published by Bagwyn in the UK

ISBN 978 -0-9570786-0-4

The Successful Stroke Survivor is part-book and part-manual for those who have suffered a stroke and have reached the end of formal therapy. 

The highly motivational approach to functional training revealed inside is a distillation of many hundreds of innovative ways created to encourage positive adaptations in the brain after stroke.

Would you like to be able to get up from the floor without any support of any kind? YES!

Would you like to tackle spasticity in your hand? YES!

Would you like to become stronger and less dependent? YES!

The Successful Stroke Survivor will show you how, and much more.

Like the author, many stroke survivors want to retrain and improve. They want techniques evolved from real-life that people in the same situations have learned and had success with… which they can easily understand, adjust to their own physical limitations and practice. Inside, stroke survivors will find out how to:

• Correct balance, co-ordination and posture over time
• Increase muscular, tendon and ligament strength over time
• Decrease muscle shortening and increase isolated movementreturn over time
• Increase confidence and remove fear of the consequences of exercising
• Become progressively more self-sufficient
• Become productive in an occupation and be happy with life

Users are guided to explore and innovate from the strategies, which are shown with accompanying illustration sequences.


Revealed here too are many simple but effective training tools that families, carers and friends can construct, or seek out, in order to drive recoveries forward. It is a massive resource for the switched-on stroke survivor and is set to become the next 'big book' in stroke.

CLINICIANS IN STROKE RECOMMEND IT, TRAINERS ARE USING IT AND STROKE SURVIVORS LOVE IT!

This book/manual has taken 4 years to write and has hundreds reviews written about it by stroke survivors, trainers and experts in stroke and ABI. See the website for all details, including how to reserve your signed, postage paid-for advance copy. The strategies and Approach shown have undergone 2 years of senior clincal physiotherapist due-diligence.

AVAILABLE NOW!

ADVANCE COST: £34.40 for 1 of 100 numbered/signed first edition. Postage £4.60

SAVE £6!! ORDER NOW.

TO FIND OUT MORE AND RESERVE A COPY OF THIS BOOK IN ADVANCE, GO THE BOOK WEBSITE

One year long Brunel University research study into ARNI Approach finishes

On the 21st October, a year long study looking at the efficacy of the ARNI Strategies completed.
Each Friday since July 2010, Dr Balchin and various ARNI instructors in North West London trained stroke survivor groups at the Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex. 
The evaluation and training was sponsored by the Hillingdon Council. The Hillingdon Hospital physiotherapists (lead therapist Jackie O'Dowd) identified 4 groups of 6 to 8 community stroke survivor each. Each group received twelve weeks of training by Dr Balchin and instructors. 

The evaluation was performed by the Brunel University team (Drs Cherry Kilbride, Meriel Norris and Amir Mogedeghi). The preliminary results were accepted as a late-breakinng trial for the UKSF Conference. Early indications suggest that functional balance (Berg Balance Scale) and timed walking (10m walk test) have improved. Data from completed focus groups identified a positive influence of inclusion in the classes. Specifically participants highlighted the benefits of the ‘normality’ of the exercises and the variety of abilities and people within the group. 


Here is just one write up from our files, from a stroke survivor's husband:



Neil Gordon - husband of stroke survivor trained by ARNI
I am perforce the full-time carer for my wife Birgit Gordon who had a major stroke in early April 2010.  Until that event I was the CEO of my own international Food and Agricultural Marketing company and travelling extensively in the UK and abroad.


My wife has participated in a Hillingdon Council supported ARNI Stroke Rehabilitation course during the last three months of 2010.  The manual is being used by me in a domestic situation as a guide and enhancement to the rehab exercises demonstrated on that course.


This is a superb training manual with a very extensive range of exercises and techniques clearly described. As a specialist training manual for those running and demonstrating physical stroke rehabilitation techniques in a gymnasium, it is to be hoped that this manual will be become a “bible”.


At a domestic level it is easy for an individual survivor or carer to absorb and put into practice for the stroke victim – in my case for a 73 year old lady unused to significant physical exercise. The ARNI-directed course at the excellent Hillingdon Leisure facilities has been superb for my wife, her self-confidence and well-being, and I observed at several levels for the other eight or nine survivors:


1    Providing an environment of trusted instructors and support in a perfect location. It was also significant that this was outside the daily personal relationship of the carer.
2    The instructors themselves clearly demonstrated the exercises and techniques, and the safe way to perform them while providing physical support for those who needed it.
3    The peer pressure and companionship of other stroke survivors was a huge accompaniment to the exercises demonstrated. Furthermore the fact that the inspirational leader, Tom Balchin, himself was a stroke survivor and able to show what he had achieved – albeit much younger than most and a highly motivated individual!
4    As we are all very well aware the recovery from a stroke is different for each individual according to severity of the physical and mental impairment suffered, the individual age and motivation, and the acceptance of the benefits of practice and exercise. This stroke rehabilitation exercise programme has to be seen in the context of a fully rounded rehabilitation effort by several agencies including the hospitals, the GPs, physiotherapists, psychiatrists, speech and language professionals, etc.  I clearly observed that the ARNI programme supported the stroke survivors in various ways including bringing together a group of survivors with many similar issues, providing a forum for them to discuss some of these issues while providing a real sense of achievement from the exercises themselves. This rounded benefit is in my experience not being achieved by any of the other agencies which are unable to provide a sense of co-ordination.


Birgit has made great strides in her ability and confidence to perform “seemingly insignificant” (though important for her personally) activities including cooking for eight people at Christmas, looking after a 2 year old grandchild, carrying a vacuum cleaner down the stairs, etc.  All this is contributing to the possibility of us rebalancing our previously very full lives. Thank you for helping to bring back my wife of more than 40 years!  We both look forward to continuing the programme.

The ReTrain Project- ARNI Strategies undergoing Efficacy Evaluations

The ReTrain Trial

Click logo for ReTrain news page

ARNI was developed by a stroke survivor, Dr Tom Balchin. It uses strength and cardiovascular exercises, with a particular focus on specific tasks and controlled body movements to facilitate functional activities. It seeks to “de-medicalise” stroke management in the community by being a stepping stone from NHS-based treatment to self-management and participation in mainstream fitness and well-being activities. See http://www.arni.uk.com/ for further details. 

Instructors are accredited after a 5-day course, an examination and completion of a practical case study. The ARNI approach had been piloted in small group exercise sessions organised through Local Authorities, Third Sector organisations and NHS bodies in various parts of the UK. ARNI instructors are also providing private 1-1 training with stroke survivors. There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence of the benefits of ARNI, even many years after a stroke. However, little formal evaluation of the approach has been conducted.

This study emerged from a suggestion made by James Irving (shown above), a member of what is now called the South West Stroke Research Network (SRN) Patient, Carer and Public Involvement Group.

James had a stroke several years ago, when he reached the end of his NHS rehabilitation he felt that he had been ‘left in limbo’.  He heard about Action for Rehabilitation following Neurological Injury (ARNI) and wanted to know more.  In collaboration with the local SRN manager, Jacqueline Briggs, a research question was developed that asked ‘Does ARNI work?’ and the project was named ReTrain (Rehabilitation Training).

The ReTrain question was further developed with help from Dr Andy Gibson and Kate Boddy, as part of the Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (PenCLAHRC).  Andy and Kate run the Patient and Public Involvement Group for PenCLAHRC.

The research question was adopted by PenCLAHRC in late 2009 and Dr Sarah Dean became the academic lead for the study.  Sarah convened a research team who worked up a ReTrain proposal that focused on answering the question ‘Is ARNI effective, and cost-effective, in improving function, activity and participation in people who are at least six months after their stroke.

In June 2010 a funding application for a £2.1 million multicentre trial of ReTrain was made to the Health Technology Assessment funding stream of the National Institute for Health Research. In October we heard that the funding bid was unsuccessful. In preparation for the trial some preliminary development studies were planned by Sarah and Dr Vicki Goodwin.  Although we did not get the HTA funding PenCLAHRC agreed to support the development through the appointment of a research fellow Dr Leon Poltawski.  2 Instructors in the South West have been Accredited now in ARNI Approach in readiness for further work.

Below is an October 2011 Update:

STATEMENT FROM DR SARAH DEAN AND DR LEON POLTAWSKI at the  Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry, Exeter.

We are a research group with a particular interest in long term stroke survivors. We are part of a collaboration between universities and NHS organisations in Southwest England, called the Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, or PenCLAHRC for short (http://clahrc-peninsula.nihr.ac.uk/).

Many of the research projects run by PenCLAHRC arise from suggestions made by local people and health professionals. One member of the public, himself a long term stroke survivor, suggested that we take a look at ARNI and so we are doing some development work to build a case for a formal research trial of the ARNI programme.

Currently, ARNI is used in various parts of the country in group classes for stroke survivors, often run in local community centres by physical trainers. But ARNI was originally designed to be delivered one-to-one, and so we are running a small number of case studies to examine how well this works in practice. We are interested in answering several questions: does ARNI promote physical health? does it increase confidence? does it improve the quality of life of stroke survivors? We are also asking people what kind of exercise programme might work best for them: one to one or group; at home or in a centre; and who should provide the training. We are also developing a map of the ARNI programme to see if it has particular ingredients that make it unique.

Building up the case for a funded scientific study of ARNI is a slow and laborious process; but we hope that – alongside work being done by other researchers – this will contribute to the development of better services for long term stroke survivors, many of whom feel that they have been forgotten about.

Find lots of clinical trials to get involved in (Thames Stroke Research Network)

Have a look at the Thames Stroke Research Network website 

Click the logo to enter site

Click on any of the indicators on the map below. Each of the indicators shows where you can get involved in trials at your local hospital. Often these can be a great way to get free intervention and free therapy.. and getting involved will certainly stoke your desire to retrain yourself! You can also play a great part in helping to prevent other people having strokes or help to limiting its effects by your participation. Have a look. There is so much exciting innovation out there - and the clinicians want to share it with you.

Use the interactive map below to find out which studies are open at your local hospital. The embedded links will take you websites with more information about these studies. If you would like to view this in a larger pleases follow this link :Larger Map

The Thames Stroke Research Network is part of the Stroke Research Network, which is one of the topic specific networks within the UKCRN established by the Department of Health and aims to improve the speed, quality, and integration of research, ultimately resulting in improved patient care. The aim of this network is to provide structures and support to local clinicians to get involved in recruiting patients to high quality multicentre trials.

ARNI will be at the UK Stroke Forum Conference in Glasgow 29th November - 1st December

Click  logo above to find out more

Clinical Trial Looking for Stroke Survivors to participate (BOTOX Study)

Clinical Trial Looking for Stroke Survivors to participate (BOTOX Study)

We are looking for volunteers to take part in our study.

Participation in the study will involve a single session of injections into your arm, 

followed by 10 sessions of physiotherapy over 4 weeks, and 3 more assessments 

after this.

Not everyone will be suitable for this particular treatment. The final decision on 

eligibility will be made by a multi-disciplinary healthcare team.

All tests and therapy will take place at the National Hospital for Neurology and 

Neurosurgery. We will reimburse you for travel expenses.

If you are interested in taking part, would like more detailed information leaflets or 

would like to ask questions without committing to anything, then please contact:

Luci Crook (Research Physiotherapist)

l.crook@ucl.ac.uk

Telephone: 020 3448 875

Clinical Trial Looking for Stroke Survivors to participate (Sleep Study)

Clinical Trial Looking for Stroke Survivors to participate (Sleep Study)

Click on logo

Please apply to Katherine Herron (Trainee Clinical Psychologist)


Katherine.Herron.2009@live.rhul.ac.uk

Telephone:   Please ring 01784 414012    01784 414012    if you have read information sheet (to follow) and think you would like to be involved.

ARNI and Headway Cornwall collaboration

HEADWAY GIVES HOPE TO THE STROKE AND ABI COMMUNITY IN CORNWALL

People who have been left debilitated by a stroke or brain injury are now benefitting from a pilot programme to introduce a revolutionary new therapy designed to improve mobility.


ARNI has trained six experienced exercise professionals through their Middlesex University Functional Training After Stroke Accreditation. This is a specialised ARNI programme that introduces new techniques for recovering physical mobility in patients.

Headway, supported by NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, have now introduced the ARNI Trust's Action for Rehabilitation from Neurological Injury physiotherapy and rehabilitation programme into Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The first group has now started in Hayle with trainer Felicia and therapist Fiona, supervised by ARNI Director Dr Balchin and Headway manager Frances Colliver.

The trained instructors will run four 12 week ARNI programmes in major centres in the county from Penzance to Truro and Launceston teaching up to 100 people how to cope better with their changed circumstances.

Deborah Matthews, Commissioning Manger for the PCT said “This programme could over time help many ABI and stroke sufferers to lead a fuller more satisfying life by being able to do so much more for themselves. It is very positive news and we are delighted to support this initiative for some of the most vulnerable people in our community”

For further information, please contact:

Dr Tom Balchin

Founder & Director, ARNI Trust

Tel:             07712 211378          07712 211378     

Matthew Cross

Trustee of Headway Cornwall

Tel:             01872 265110        01872 265110     

Email: matthew.cross@headwaycornwall.org.uk

About Headway Cornwall:

Headway Cornwall is a registered charity (no 1060882) set up to give help and support to people affected by brain injury.

• Our mission is “To work to improve the quality of Life of those with a traumatic brain injury, their relatives and carers”.
• We offer a range of services through centres in Lostwithiel and Truro
• These services are designed to improve self-respect, self-confidence, daily living skills and self-esteem.
• We promote, where possible, independent living.
• Our Programmes are geared to support each person's abilities and preferences