Sarah is one of SCIA NeuroMoves’ clients from Canberra who had to transition from doing her exercise therapy sessions in our NeuroMoves gym to using our online Telehealth service due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Sarah had a stroke over ten years ago, due to a blood clot. She spent four weeks in intensive care and a further 12 months doing rehabilitation in hospital prior to being discharged home. As a result of her stroke, Sarah is unable to move her right arm, and has limited movement in her right leg.

She’s been a part of our NeuroMoves Canberra family since 2019, with her goals including weight loss, improved balance so she can sit unsupported at the dinner table, as well as to start to include weight-bearing exercises, such as standing, so she can begin taking her first steps within six months.

Thanks to her extremely supportive family, and her particularly strong relationship with her primary carer Helen, she has been able to continue her therapy via Telehealth at home.

From her home, Sarah uses her electric lounge during her Telehealth sessions so she can move herself up and down for different tasks during her sessions, as well as an electronic stimulation device, various length therabands and different types of balls.

The NeuroMoves Canberra team structured her Telehealth sessions to include posture work, upper and lower limb strengthening and cardio work. At first, Sarah was sceptical about the effectiveness of the sessions and kept it to one hour per week. However, after a few initial Telehealth sessions, she became more confident in the therapy and what she can achieve through the sessions and has now increased it to two sessions per week.

Sarah says that she enjoys the interaction with her therapist, Colbey, and learning new skills she can achieve by herself, “I like that it’s one-on-one and it’s a more intense session. It helps my pain in my back and head and helped my strength.”

“I’ve also found my sense of humour and I laugh more, and I joke around so I can pick on Colbey more (joking). I feel like I’m friends with my therapist and that makes me happy.”

NeuroMoves Physiotherapist, Colbey Van Leeuwen, has been attending to Sarah’s therapy in person at NeuroMoves and recently over Telehealth and says he feels that it has brought a sense of normality to Sarah’s life, “Sarah’s mum attended the first few sessions (of Telehealth) and she was delighted to see Sarah come out of her shell emotionally – which is a underrated aspect of neurological rehabilitation.”

“For me, personally, it is essential to give our clients an optimistic and positive outlook on their condition – which usually focuses too heavily on the ‘cannots’ rather than the ‘cans’.”

To learn more about NeuroMoves Telehealth click here or call us on 1800 819 775