We know that it is important that stroke survivors are active. This session will include a summary of the evidence base for physical activity, how therapists support stroke survivors to get and stay physically active, and a stroke survivor sharing their tips and experiences. We hope that the session will help to bust some common myths about physical activity and stroke, including that it’s not all about sweat and lycra!
Juliet Bouverie
Juliet Bouverie OBE is the Chief Executive of the Stroke Association. The organisation’s activities extend from funding stroke research, to providing services to stroke survivors and their families, influencing and campaigning for change, and educating and working to prevent strokes. There are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK, yet stroke still remains the fourth single largest cause of death in the UK and second in the world.
Juliet co-chairs the Stroke Delivery Programme Board with NHS England and is a member of the NHS Assembly.
Mari Gunnes
Mari Gunnes is a physiotherapist and research scientist at the Department of Health Research at SINTEF in Norway. She has clinical experience in primary and secondary healthcare services and a PhD in Clinical Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Mari has been involved in several clinical trials with her research mainly focusing on rehabilitation after stroke, focussing on secondary prevention in terms of adherence to physical activity and exercise following stroke in preventing functional decline. Her research and educational interests include healthcare systems and technologies to improve health and quality of life in the population.
Sarah Moore
Dr Sarah Moore is an Assistant Professor at Northumbria University and an honorary physiotherapist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS trust.
Sarah has worked clinically with stroke survivors and runs research programmes investigating stroke rehabilitation and recovery. Sarah has a specialist interest in physical activity and walking after stroke.
Grethe Lunde
Grethe Lunde, 50, is an honorary board member of the Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE).
She had a severe and lifechanging cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) – stroke – on her 22nd birthday and woke up from an induced coma totally paralysed. Luckily, she was sent to a rehabilitation hospital where she could relearn necessary skills that were lost that day in February in 1994. She had to start over on several levels and had to relearn how to speak, read, type, write – and most importantly she had to learn how to sit, stand and walk again.