Breathing Exercise for Stroke
Development of Upper Limb Motor Scale to Measure Quality of Movement and Body Awareness in Stroke
See full descriptionAbout the trial for Stroke
Treatment Groups
This trial involves 2 different treatments. Breathing Exercise is the primary treatment being studied. Participants will all receive the same treatment. There is no placebo group. The treatments being tested are not being studied for commercial purposes.
Eligibility
This trial is for patients born any sex aged 18 and older. There are 7 eligibility criteria to participate in this trial as listed below.
Approximate Timelines
Measurement Requirements
This trial is evaluating whether Breathing Exercise will improve 2 primary outcomes and 3 secondary outcomes in patients with Stroke. Measurement will happen over the course of Baseline.
Patient Q & A Section
What is stroke?
Stroke is a disorder caused by an interruption of the arteries supplying the brain that result in brain damage, typically affecting one half of those affected. It occurs less commonly in men than in women and the elderly more than the young. It can be divided broadly into those that are caused by embolization of a clot in an artery that carries blood to the brain, and those that are caused by a disruption of a large blood vessel across the brain. Strokes can result in a range of severe clinical complications, including major disability and even death.
What causes stroke?
Stroke is the most common cause of brain dysfunction in adults. Though genetics may account for a small percentage of stroke patients, multiple factors can contribute to the cause of stroke, including high blood pressure, tobacco smoking, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and physical inactivity.
Can stroke be cured?
The number of new cases of stroke is rising rapidly, and the prognosis for the majority remains fairly poor. The treatment of stroke, especially early stroke treatment, should be intensified. This might save lives and minimise disability. Moreover, more rigorous trials need to be performed for a better understanding of the pathology and treatment efficacy of stroke.
What are the signs of stroke?
There are many common neurological signs that may be associated with an acute ischemic stroke. Among those, headaches are the most common sign, with focal (as opposed to focal and generalised) dizziness the most common complaint. Abnormal pupil size, deviation of gaze to the affected side and nystagmus could be the initial presentation. Other signs may be present, but are less common such as changes in sensory function, visual disturbances, unilateral weakness or numbness, and changes in consciousness.
How many people get stroke a year in the United States?
More than 1 in 5 individuals will have a transient ischemic attack or stroke in the next year. The estimates of stroke incidence vary widely by race, age, sex, and geographical region. For example, white males are estimated to account for 41% of stroke cases.
What are common treatments for stroke?
The findings of the survey suggest that therapies that can be administered at home are still being used by the majority of patients, while, to a lesser extent, home based therapies are also used. Results from a recent clinical trial reveal gaps in knowledge about the treatments used at home, information about the current use and the feasibility of implementing these different approaches.
Is breathing exercise safe for people?
Most people with chronic diseases of breathing will experience an elevation in arterial pressures while exercising. These increases often exceed 140 mmHg in untreated chronic disease and can be life-threatening. The risks of exercise training, in terms of cardiovascular outcomes are not yet well understood and in many cases there are no published data. It is believed that there will be a decline in performance due to lack of training, but these findings are not conclusive. It is imperative that exercise training (and also breathing exercises) is carried out with caution in those who are prescribed respiratory stimulant medication. Exercise is not recommended in those who have known or suspected cardiac instability, are using oral anti-coagulants or if there is a long-standing history of heart disease.
What is breathing exercise?
From our study we can conclude from our preliminary findings that most patients were able to perform a correct deep breathing exercise. We could not determine the impact of other types of exercise compared to deep breathing exercise, however, we noticed that many patients were able to tolerate those more strenuous activities. In terms of deep breathing exercise we recommend an initial training of half an hour for first week. This training will decrease the risk of hypoxia in the blood of patient.
What are the common side effects of breathing exercise?
To minimize side effects a correct ventilation can help the body to regulate its own levels of oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin, and carbon dioxide in blood as well as reducing the body’s need for oxygen via improved ventilation. As a result, breathable air, and the oxygen in that air, is used more efficiently by muscles. Exercise should be limited if one is recovering from a stroke and also the intensity should be kept as low as possible in order to minimize the amount of oxygen needed. Exercise after brain injury may cause dizziness, blurred vision, muscle aches, and fatigue. These signs are normal and don’t require any medical attention.
What are the latest developments in breathing exercise for therapeutic use?
The concept of therapeutic use of breathing exercises is still evolving. There is still very limited evidence, and therefore most of these exercises should be considered to be 'unproven treatments'. It seems clear that breathing exercises help to improve chest pain, fatigue, and breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but their use in any other type of musculoskeletal pain, or in cardiorespiratory training programs has not been demonstrated. Furthermore, most of these breathing exercises do not seem to affect blood pressure and, for this reason, they should only be prescribed when the relevant symptoms cannot be improved by medication, and they can be prescribed together with a drug if these symptoms remain after discontinuing the breathing exercises.
Who should consider clinical trials for stroke?
Results from a recent paper of this study, comparing clinician and patient-specific risk-benefit assessments for clinical trials of new treatment algorithms for symptomatic, first-ever acute stroke, strongly suggest that clinicians may overestimate risk-benefit assessments for patients and that patient-specific risk-benefit assessments provide a more accurate assessment.