People who have had a stroke experience twice as many falls as the general population. In Australia, over 400,000 people have had a stroke and up to 300,000 of these people can be expected to experience a fall. Falls are the main cause of hospitalisation from injury after a stroke and having a fall can impact on long term health and well-being. There are many falls prevention programs available in Australia however none of these have been shown to work for people who have had a stroke.
The study
FAST – the Falls After Stroke Trial is a four year-study funded by a $1.8 million NHMRC project grant. The trial is being jointly led by Professor Lindy Clemson from the University of Sydney and Professor Cath Dean Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University.
Dr Kate Scrivener, Associate Professor Taryn Jones, Dr Virginia Mumford and Professor Gillian Heller are other Macquarie University investigators involved in this trial. The aim of the FAST study is to determine the effectiveness of a home-based, tailored intervention to reduce falls in people who have had a stroke.
The control group will receive health and medical care as usually provided to them by their health care practitioners. Whereas, the experimental group will receive a tailored occupational therapy and physiotherapy intervention which includes 10 home visits and two follow up phone calls over a six-month period. The visits will focus on home and community- based exercise, based on the Lifestyle Integrated Functional Exercise (LIFE) program alongside safety training and community participation. All activities will be embedded in stroke survivors’ daily routine, so they do not need to allocate extra time to exercise.
Participant recruitment
We are seeking 370 volunteers who had their first stroke within five years, live in the community in Sydney or Canberra, over 65 years old and able to walk 10 metres independently with or without a walking aid. Further information about the Falls After Stroke Trial is available on www.faststudy.com.au or you can contact the FAST team by phone (02) 9351 9989 or email fast.study@sydney.edu.au
Ethics approvals # 5201500456 and amendment 5201913429357
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