Physical exercise program during the COVID-19 pandemic for stroke survivors: an intervention development study

BACKGROUND: To mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation was needed. Since individuals after stroke have a high risk if catching the COVID-19, and physical exercise is one of the most effective treatments for the disease. Staying physically active through a remote exercise program is an appropriate solution to minimize the inactivity effects. AIM: To report the process of development of a remote physical exercise program based on a face-to-face physical exercise program. METHOD: We developed the remote physical exercise program, maintaining the structure of the face-to-face version. Two weeks under social isolation, the remote physical exercise program has started. For the first 2 weeks, for familiarization purposes, we have provided the participants with only a few parts of the session followed by a test session in a synchronous mode of delivery. From the third week onwards, the activities were fully developed. RESULTS: An asynchronous remote physical exercise was chosen to ensure that the individuals would be able to perform the physical exercises with a caregiver or family member at home, as safe as possible. The sessions were delivered by a single video with all five components, including the parameters of prescription (time, sets, and repetitions), safety instructions, and alternatives exercises. We created two questionnaires to investigate attendance, barriers, safety, and overall experience. CONCLUSION: This paper purposed an asynchronous remote physical exercise program with a single video per session to initiate telemonitoring for stroke survivors, who had already participated in a face-to-face program of physical exercise before the COVID-19 pandemic.