Partnering with Active Living Fitness Club, we are excited to announce our exercise class for people who have had a stroke. We started a mild traumatic brain injury exercise class in September 2015, working with our clients who have had extreme difficulty in adding exercise into their lives due to their symptoms. Like this clientele, after a stroke, it is often very difficult to start and participate in an exercise program independently. Many of our clients attend physiotherapy regularly as their only exercise, however functional physiotherapy sessions are quite different than an exercise program.
Why is exercise so important?
Stroke is the number one cause of neurological disability in Canada today. The impairments that remain even after rehabilitation, such as muscle weakness, pain, poor balance, and decreased confidence can lead to a reduced tolerance to activity and sedentary lifestyle. Inactivity can result in increased risk of falls and fracture, a second stroke or heart attack, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. All of these risk factors and incidences are modifiable and can be improved with exercise.
What are the benefits of this class?
This class is designed to support, promote and facilitate healthy living in a population of people who may experience difficulties and challenges exercising. It is a class designed to improve heart health, fitness, and endurance while also working to improve mobility issues, reduce falls risk, improve balance and bone density.
Active Living’s exercise class is based upon the FAME program (Fitness and Mobility Exercise Program), an exercise program designed by therapists in British Columbia specifically for the chronic stroke population. When tested in trials, participants showed improvements in balance function, balance confidence, walking speed and endurance, leg muscle strength and quality of life.
How is the exercise class different from my therapy sessions?
Active Living hopes that this class will facilitate individuals to achieve fitness and health goals in a group setting. Exercising with a group can promote social relationships, provide peer support, and improve motivation, adherence and participation.
Although it is beneficial to work on individual goals and task based problems you are facing during one on one therapy, some aspects of ‘exercise’ are missed. This group class will work to improve fitness and health across multiple domains including balance, muscle strength, cardiovascular fitness, general mobility, and mood.
The 5 W’s of the class:
When: Wednesdays and Fridays at 3pm, for approx. 1 hour – starting Jan 06/16 running until April.
Where: Active Living Fitness Club
Who: A physiotherapist (Wed: Andrea, Fri: Laine) will be running each class along with 2-3 staff from the gym and clinic for clients of Active Living Physiotherapy who have had a stroke. Participant to staff ratio will be at most 3:1.
How: Please ‘register’ with your therapist or with Ashley, so staff have an idea of who will attend which class.
Cost: $30.00 per class
$330.00 for 12 classes (1 class per week for 3 months, $27.50 per class)
$660.00 for 24 classes (2 class per week for 3 months, $27.50 per class)