Nicole: Hello. I'm Nicole Lavin. I'm a specialist neurological physiotherapist, and I specialise in stroke rehabilitation. I have over 20 years experience working with stroke survivors following them through their journey from the acute stages, right the way through the rehabilitation process up until discharge. I feel absolutely privileged to be here today, working with A Stroke of Luck in collaboration with the Stroke Association to bring you these activity videos. I hope you enjoy.

Mark: Hi, my name is Mark Watterson. I'm also a physiotherapist who specialises in musculoskeletal injuries and neurological rehabilitation. My main passion in life is helping those recover from their stroke. I'm proud to bring you these activities in the videos you're about to watch.

Craig: In this set of activities, you will need a pillow, your chair or wheelchair and your carer or family member. Before starting the warm up to this activity, it is very important that carers and family members watched the "Advice and exercises for carers" video.

Mark: Okay, Red Group, this is your flexibility exercise, which will be your warm up to start you off. You will need a carer or a family member with you throughout this exercise. So we do suggest that you look back at the advice and guidance videos for carers before you begin. So for this warm up, you need to be seated in a chair. If you can, you need to be unsupported, sitting up tall, engaging your trunk and core. If you struggle with that, that's perfectly fine. Use the support of the chair throughout. However, do as much as you can stay unsupported, even if it's just a few seconds. So with the arm already supported in a pillow, you're gonna keep up there to ensure that the shoulder is in a nice, stable position. Okay, carers or family members, you're gonna get yourself down. You're going to support the weaker leg. Okay, by placing your hands underneath the knee and you're going to straighten out the weaker leg just to the point where they feel comfortable, they shouldn't feel stretch already. Don't force it into pain again, at a position and at a range where they're comfortable. Then what you're gonna do. You gonna ask your stroke survivor to hold on to her weaker hand with her stronger hand, and you're just gonna slowly slide forward to a comfortable position where the just about feel the stretch underneath their leg in the hamstring. This may be a small movement. That's totally fine. Go within your limit where you're pain free, you will feel slight discomfort because this will be a stretch. And what you want to do is hold it there. So if you bring yourself back, we'll go for a 15 second stretch now. Away we go. So bring yourself forward. Just hold the where you can feel it. but you're comfortable. Carers, don't try and force this leg out. Just keep it there. Okay. Well done. Carers, you're going to put the leg back down on the floor. Then you're gonna ask your stroke survivor to keep hold of your hand. Extend your stronger leg in the air and same again, you're gonna lean forward until you feel the stretch. What we'll do is we'll hold that now for 15 seconds. Again, you may find you have a bit more range of movement with the stronger side. That's perfectly normal. Just go towards that limit where you can feel it working. And well done. Put the leg down. Moving up into your trunk now. You're going to remove the support of the pillow from the weaker arm. Carers, family members, we're going to keep the arms supported and you're going to support at the forearm, like so. You're gonna drop your arms over the edge and you're gonna tilt side to side, stretching out your trunk to your limit, and we come back. Then going to come over to this side, ensuring that the arm is supported throughout, especially as she comes back up. You're not pulling the arm, you're not dragging it. You're lifting it up with her to get that full stretch down the sides. We're going to do that now for 30 seconds. Away we go. Try not to go too far. Just a nice comfortable limit. Again carers, make sure you are not pulling this arm. It is snug right up in that shoulder. Make sure you're safe and feel comfortable, pain free. And relax there. Gonna to place the arm back on, and gonna to ask your stroke survivor to support the arm again. And we're gonna do one more set of each. So carers, back on the floor, hands underneath the leg. Lift it up to the point of the stretch and ask your stroke survivor stretch forward. 15 seconds. One more time. You might find you have a bit more range of movement now. After your first stretch. And relax. Back you go. And same again now with a stronger leg. Lift it up, and lean yourself forward. If your stroke survivor feels a bit uncomfortable leaning forward, you can always support them like so. So they feel a bit more stable. And back you go. And then carers, we're going to return to the weaker arm. Support it behind the arm, at the forearm, hands over the side. We're gonna tilt for 30 seconds. Away we go. Keep that arm supported nice and snug in that shoulder joint. Lift it up. As she goes over to her stronger side. Carers, make sure you're in a nice, stable position, not bending your back, keeping it nice and [indecipherable]. There you go. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching points from this exercise we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit in your chair and support your weaker arm with a pillow. Try to sit away from the back of the chair. However, if this is difficult, rest back. Straighten your weaker knee. Your carer will help you to do this. Only straighten as far as your leg will allow. Slide your hands forwards so that you bend slightly in the middle until you can feel a stretch in the back of your leg. Use your stronger hand to assist your weaker hand, but do not pull your arm. You may feel slight discomfort when performing this stretch, which is normal. Hold for 15 seconds. And then repeat with your stronger leg. Now reach down to the side towards the floor or wheels of your chair. Start towards your stronger side and then to your weaker side. Your carer will support your weaker arm as you do this and also help you to return to the middle. Your carer must not pull or push your arm. Do not move too far, just as far as is comfortable. Repeat for 30 seconds. Rest and then repeat the whole warm up again.

Mark: Okay, Red group. This is your first exercise for your flexibility. So you will be seated in your wheelchair or a chair, and you will need a carer or family member with you to help you with this exercise. So what you wanna do, you want to have your weaker arm supported by a pillow, and what we're trying to do is try to straighten out that weaker wrist and hand and trying to get some nice extension so you can increase the movement and release some of that tone down your weaker arm. So to do this, you can ask your carer to come in, handle the weaker hand, try and lift the thumb up slightly and get your hand into your fingers. So you bring about that wrist extension then as the stroke survivor to place their hand, their stronger hand, palms together like so. So the fingers are nice and flat against each other. From there, you're gonna block the wrist of the weaker arm and you're gonna support the weaker elbow to prevent the arm from moving. And, you're then, from here, we're going to go back and forward like so. And we're gonna hold it for two seconds, and then we're gonna go in the opposite direction, to which you may need a bit of support as you bring it across. And back into the middle to finish off. We're gonna do five reps on each side. Away we go. OK, one. Two. Well done and bring it across. One two, well done. Block the wrist, bring it back over. One, two, well done. Assist with the movement. One, two. Well done. Carry on with the blocking. Well done and assist with the movement. Don't force it. Don't pull it, just enough where we're slowly stretching out the wrist and increasing that range of movement. There you go and back again. One, two. Well done. One, two. Well done. One more, each side. And one, two, well done. Place the arm back down on the bed, supported by the pillow. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the exercises and the coaching points that we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit in your chair or wheelchair with your weaker arm supported on a pillow. Your carer will help you to open up your weaker hand. Bring your stronger hand over to your weaker hand and try to place palms together. Try to get your fingers as straight as possible, but don't worry if you are unable to do this fully. Move your hands backwards and forwards assisting your movement with your stronger hand. Do not push past any pain or resistance. Repeat five times in each direction.

Mark: Red group. This is your second exercise now for flexibility. Once again, you're gonna be in your chair or your wheelchair, and you will need to carer or family member to support you throughout this exercise. Once again, feel free to look back at the guidance for carers exercise video that we did before. So what you gonna do? You gonna have your weaker arm supported on a pillow. Okay. And you're gonna ask your carer to support just above the elbow, ensuring that the shoulder is supported and not dragging down. You're gonna ask your stroke survivor to grab hold of their weaker hand, like so. You're gonna bring that up to your mouth, okay? And you're gonna bring your arm outwards palm up until you feel the stretch or your limit. Once you feel your limit, don't force it into pain. Don't try and extend into a position where it's uncomfortable. Just relax there and bring it back up to your mouth. Carers are supporting at the, just above the elbow the whole time as the stroke survivor goes through the movement. Also for carers, once they've reached their limit, and regarding there's no pain, you can just provide a little bit more extension just for the greater stretch in that bicep. And if they need to, you can assist them up. But they should be OK with that. We're gonna do five reps of them, but we're gonna hold it for 10 seconds at the very end. So here we go. We're going to support, stretch it to the limit, a little bit extra and hold. And there's 10. Let's bring it back up. And nice and slow, let's extend the wrist and the elbow and hold. And again bring it back up and back down. Each time you might find you've got a bit more range of movement and it's less uncomfortable. 10 seconds again. And for your fourth rep, here we go, 10 seconds. And last one. Well done. Big stretch. Final 10 seconds. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and relax. Give yourself a few moments now to go back through the coaching points for this exercise you just watched.

Craig: Sitting in your chair or wheelchair with your weaker arm supported on a pillow. Hold your weaker wrist with your stronger hand. Bring your weaker hand towards your mouth, try to get your fingers to touch your mouth. Slowly take your hand back towards the pillow, trying to get the back of your hand to touch it. Only move as far as your arm allows and do not push past any pain or resistance. Hold for 10 seconds. Your carer will support your weaker arm throughout and assist you if needed. Repeat five times.

Mark: Red Group. This is your third exercise now for flexibility. Once again, you're gonna be sitting in your chair and you will need a carer or family member with you. If carers feel like they do need a bit of guidance with handling for this exercise, you can look back at the exercise and guides videos already provided. So you're already sitting in your chair. If you can, you want to sit yourself unsupported. If you struggle with that, that's fine. Get your carer or a family member to place a pillow length ways behind your lower back so you feel like you are away from the back support of the chair. What you're gonna ask your stroke survivors to do is move your stronger arm and support your weaker arm underneath the elbow, so it's protected like so. The elbow is supporting the shoulder. What you're gonna do from here is you're going to tilt to the side, bring yourself back. And almost like a circle to work on the flexibility of your trunk. So what, you're want, bring yourself back around nice and slow and forward in this sort of movement. Carers or family member, to make your stroke survivor feel a bit more safe or secure. You can place your hand just on the chest and on the lower back, and you can just guide them. And just make them secure specifically when we come forward to get that stretch into their lower back. You're not doing the movement for them. You just guiding them. And what we want to do is five reps one way, then five reps the other. So we'll do that now. Here we go. And here there is one. And two, nice stretch. And what you want to try and imagine is increasing those circles each time. There we go. And we're gonna go five the other way. That's one. And two, three, four, last one. And five. Give yourself a moment there to look back at the coaching points for this exercise we've just shown you.

Craig: Sitting tall in your chair and, if possible, away from the back of the chair. Use a pillow at your lower back to help with this. Hold your weaker arm and support it under your elbow. Try to move your body in a circular motion. Your carer can support your body to make you feel more confident whilst you do this. Do five circles in one direction and then five in the other.

Nicole: Hello. I'm Nicole Lavin. I'm a specialist neurological physiotherapist, and I specialise in stroke rehabilitation. I have over 20 years experience working with stroke survivors following them through their journey from the acute stages, right the way through the rehabilitation process up until discharge. I feel absolutely privileged to be here today, working with A Stroke of Luck in collaboration with the Stroke Association to bring you these activity videos. I hope you enjoy.

Mark: Hi, my name is Mark Watterson. I'm also a physiotherapist who specialises in musculoskeletal injuries and neurological rehabilitation. My main passion in life is helping those recover from their stroke. I'm proud to bring you these activities in the videos you're about to watch.

Craig: In this set of activities, you will need a chair, a pillow and your carer or family member. Before starting the warm up to this activity, tt is very important that carers and family members watched the "Advice and Exercises for Carers" video.

Nicole: Okay, red group. This is your stamina warm up activity. And for this activity, you will need your carer or family member to assist you. It is important that your carer or family member has watched the advice and guidance video for carers before taking part in this activity. Okay, so the warm up, we're going to start with marching. Okay, so your strokes survivor needs to be sitting in a chair or wheelchair, sit up as tall as possible, and if needed, you can have a pillow to support the weaker arm. We're going to start with a 30 second march. Okay, so stronger leg, just lifting it up off the floor. Okay, Try to get your hip hop high and back down again. And, carer, you're going to facilitate the lift of the weaker leg, so you'll need a hand underneath knee and perhaps around ankle or foot, and you're going to lift and down. Okay, so we're going to do that activity for 30 seconds for the first part of the warmup. Are we ready? Okay, so hands in position. Ready when you are, off you go. That's it. Good. Just go at your own speed. It doesn't matter how many you do. It's just trying to get you warmed up for 30 seconds. If your stroke survivor can join in, in the weak, with the weaker leg, that's brilliant. Okay, keep that going. 30 seconds. The last couple, okay and rest. Okay, so that's part one of your warm up the second part of your warm up, we're still working on lower limbs. Okay, So what you're going to do with your stronger leg, you're going to kick it out so that your leg's, your knee's straight, Okay. And then bring it back. Let your heel touch the floor, and you're going to facilitate the weaker leg, Okay, So same exercise. Bringing it down, back, touch the floor. As soon as that touches, that one goes back out. We're going to do that five repetitions each side. Are we ready? Off you go. Straight down, up and down. That's two. Up, and down. Okay. Thinking about your handling where your facilitating so again, around the knee and foot and ankle. Okay. And again, joining as much as you can. Last one. And last one on this side. You might not get the full range. Just work within what range is available. Okay, The last part of the warm up activity. Okay, Is looking at your upper body. So for this activity, you're going to be working your stronger arm first of all, trying to straighten out your elbow, bringing it up to shoulder height. Okay, 'bout there and then back down again. And we're going to do the same on the weaker arm. Okay? Again, we're going to do five repetitions. Carer handling, you need to support shoulder. Okay. And around wrist to take the weight of the arm. Okay. So stronger side first. Up, down. Up, and down. Up. And down. Straighten out as much as you can. Take the weight of the arm and down. That's two Three. And three. And again, you might not get the range, and it should not be working within any pain. So just go within your available range of movement. And final one. Okay. And rest. Okay. And well done. That's your warm up complete. We're just going to take a short pause there so you can go over the coaching points for the activity that we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit in your chair as tall as you can and support your weaker arm with a pillow. March your legs while sitting in the chair. Start with your stronger leg and then move to your weaker leg. Your carer will assist your weaker leg to do this but join in as much as you can and keep marching for 30 seconds. Now straighten your stronger leg and then bend your knee to bring your foot back to the floor. Then repeat with your weaker leg. Your carer will help your weaker leg to do this. But again, join in as much as you can. Repeat five times each side. Straighten your stronger arm and bring your arm up to shoulder height. Repeat with your weaker arm with your carer assisting you to do this. Do not move past pain or restrictions. Repeat five times with each arm.

Nicole: Okay, this is exercise one for the Red Group for stamina exercises. Okay, for this activity, you need to be sitting in your wheelchair or chair, okay? And you're going to be doing some upper limb movements with a little bit of trunk rotation. Um, your carer or family member needs to be supporting the weaker arm. Okay, so we're going to take the support if there is any support in place out for this activity, just so you get a little bit more trunk rotation. You want to stand with a wide base, so you're taking the weight of the arm. Okay, so with your stronger arm, make a fist, okay? And bring it out to punch across your body, bringing in some rotation activity there. And whilst your stroke survivor is doing that, you are supporting the weight of the weaker arm. Then we're going to do it on the weaker arm. So you may need to support elbow and shoulder with one hand whilst you facilitate them making the fist. Okay, make the fist we're going to bring get round and across the body. Really bend your knees and really give it a good stretch around. Okay, bring it back to the start position. Take the weight of the elbow. So you support your shoulder, and then where possible, try to un-grip the hand and fingers. This might be difficult if there is any increased tone or spasticity in the hand. But do what you can to get a bit of a stretch. So we're taking it through the available range. Okay. For this exercise, we're going to do it for 30 seconds alternate. Are we ready? Off we go. Strong side first, all the way round. Make the fist, across, back. Open. Well done, keep that going. Get as much rotation as possible and out. Good. Make that fist, round we go. And relax. We'll take a short pause there so you can go through the coaching points for the activity that we have just shown you.

Craig: Sit in your chair. Your carer will help you to move your weaker arm. But do try to join in. Make a fist with your stronger arm and punch across your body, turning your body as you do this. Now, do this with your weaker arm. Your carer will help you to make a fist and move your arm across your body. Do not push past pain or restrictions. Repeat with alternate arms for 30 seconds.

Nicole: Okay, Red Group. This is your second exercise of the stamina stamina group. Okay. And for this activity, your stroke survivor needs to be in sitting in the chair or wheelchair with the weaker arm supported if required. This exercise is actually going to be working on the lower part of the body. Okay, we're going to work on similar activity to what we did in the warm up. So you're going to have the knee straightening out, okay and tapping down. And when the heel hits the floor, the opposite leg, so the weaker leg, you're actually going to lift up towards the roof and down. As this heel taps down, you're then going to go back into another cycle. So it's knee out, down, hip up down, knee out, down, hip up, down. We're going to do this activity for one minute, okay? Carer or family member, you need to take the weight of the leg. Okay? So your hand will be underneath the knee and again around foot and ankle. Okay? And I'll show you as we're going through this how to handle the limb. Okay. Are we ready? One minute. Off you go. So kick the knee out. Heel down. On heel down, up. Down. Out, so you're taking the weight, down. Up, down. Out, down. Up, down. Out, down. Up, down. Keep that going. Out, down. Up, down. Out, down. Up, down. Keep this going for one minute. Okay? And if you're stroke survivor can join in with the weaker leg. That's excellent. Out, down. Up, down. Out, down. Up, down and rest. Okay, let's take a short pause there so you can go over the coaching points of the activity that we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit in your chair with your weaker arm supported with a pillow. Straighten your stronger knee and then bring your foot back to the start position. Bring your weakening up towards the ceiling and then take your foot back to the floor. Next, straighten your weaker knee and then bring your foot back to the start position. Lift your stronger knee up towards the ceiling and then take your foot back to the floor. Your carer will help your weaker leg to do this, but join in as much as you can. Repeat this sequence for one minute.

Nicole: Stamina Red Group Exercise three. Okay, Red Group. This is the third and final exercise from your stamina set of exercises. Your stroke survivor will be in the chair or wheelchair, and if they can sit forward and place a pillow or some support across the lower part of their back, just to give them a little bit of feedback throughout this exercise. Carer, you need to be stood on their weaker arm and this is a trunk exercise. So we're looking at stability and stamina, and we're looking at symmetry of movement as you're moving through the exercise. So carer, you're handling is going to be around wrist and supporting shoulder. OK, hand on the lap if it can. Okay. And you're going to work in symmetry if you can. Okay. To take your hands down, slide them down past the knees, so bringing your head down and then you're coming back up until you feel back in contact with the pillow support at the back of the chair. It is really important that the carer handling here does not pull the arm. You are literally going trying to get the symmetry of movement with the stronger arm. Okay, we're going to do this for 30 seconds. It's not a race. Take your time, okay? And we're looking at control of movement and symmetry. Okay, ready? Off we go. So supporting down, don't pull the arm and then helping facilitate back up all the way back. Good. And again. And it's important that this activity is done slowly and controlled, okay? And not rushed. And carer as you move forward, okay facilitate the arm. You're transferring your weight from one leg to the other. One more and back up. Let's take a short rest, and we're going to repeat that again for another 30 seconds. So when you're ready? Okay. Are we ready? Off we go. So slide down, just past the knees if you can. Okay, and back up. You should not be working into any pain whatsoever. So in a comfortable range. Down, back up. And as you come back up, try to get that symmetry. Stay in the middle. Good. And last one. Back up. Okay, let's take a short pause there so we can go over the coaching points of the activity that we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit in your chair with a pillow behind your lower back. Your carer will support and assist your weaker arm as you do this activity. If able, rest both hands on your thighs. Slide both hands down to just pass your knees and then sit back up and rest again in the chair. If you find it difficult to sit back up, slide your hands to your knees. Your carer must not pull your weaker arm during this activity. Do this for 30 seconds. And then rest and repeat.

Nicole: Hello. I'm Nicole Lavin. I'm a specialist neurological physiotherapist, and I specialise in stroke rehabilitation. I have over 20 years experience working with stroke survivors following them through their journey from the acute stages, right the way through the rehabilitation process, up until discharge. I feel absolutely privileged to be here today, working with A Stroke of Luck in collaboration with the Stroke Association to bring you these activity videos. I hope you enjoy.

Mark: Hi, my name is Mark Watterson. I'm also a physiotherapist who specialises in musculoskeletal injuries and neurological rehabilitation. My main passion in life is helping those recover from their stroke. I'm proud to bring you these activities in the videos you're about to watch.

Craig: For these activities you will need a bed, a pillow or towel. Before starting the warm up to this activity. It is very important that carers and family members watched the advice and exercises for carers video.

Nicole: Hi, red group. This is your warm up for your stability section of activities. For this activity your stroke survivor needs to be lying down, preferably on the bed, with their weaker arm supported by a pillow or rolled towel. And we're gonna work through three exercises within this warm up. So the first one is quite simple just taking up the support of the bed and just literally asking your stroke survivor to squeeze their bottom cheeks. So trying to squeeze the bottom cheeks together. So if you want to do that for me. You might see a little bit of movement like that and release. So that's the first one. The second one, you're going to bend the knees up, so you're stronger side first, and then carer, you might need to come in to support the weaker leg. Okay, so because you are handling the leg and supporting and stabilising, we do recommend that you watch the advice and guidance exercise video for carers that we've done previously. From that position, you will be stabilizing the weaker leg, and you are redoing that bottom squeeze. Okay, so squeeze again in that position and release, and we're aiming to try to squeeze the right bottom cheek and the left bottom cheek together at the same time. The third part of the warm up is staying in this position. Okay. And you need something for some feedback. Okay, So you might use a rolled up towel. I've got a beanbag here. Anything just small to place under the lower back of your stroke survivor. So we're going to squeeze that underneath. You might do this with the legs straight, if you haven't got the stability, we're gonna pop that underneath, okay? And then legs back up. Um, legs back up. So now your stroke survivor has a point of contact in their lower back. And with the third part of the warm up, you're going to ask them to squash that the piece that you put under the lower back and tighten up their abdominals, keeping their neck in contact with the pillow at all times. So we're going to go through the whole warm up. We're going to do 10 repetitions of each activity. So let's go back to the start, now that you've seen the examples. Lower down, take that out. Okay, so are we ready? Activity one. Squeeze and release. So tighten up and release, one. And again two. And again Three. You might want to put your hands onto the bottom of your strokes survivor, just to provide a little bit of feedback and just ask them. Are they squeezing at the same time and same rate. Keep that going. Do it at your own pace. One more and relax. Well done. Okay, so the second part of warm up, knee up facilitate the weaker leg. So underneath the knee, bending up, trying to make sure the knees and feet are in line and you might be stabilising that leg. Okay. Same activity again. Squeeze and release. Ready. Off you go. Squeeze and release. Squeeze and release. Keep that going for 10. Good. And your role of as a carer family member is to stabilise this leg. Well done. Okay. Keep going for 10 and relax. Well done. Straighten out your leg down and then facilitate the weaker side down. And now onto your final component for this section. So get your piece of material, rolled up towel, Slide it underneath the lower back. Okay. To provide the feedback and then from that position, legs up again, taking the weight of the weaker leg and stabilising. Are we ready? So you're going to squash the item under your lower back with your tummy trying to pull your tummy bottom back down into the item. Off we go. So tighten up and relax. And again, make sure you don't lift your head up off the pillow. And you're just looking for that tilting motion at the pelvis there. Keep going for 10. Well done, keep this leg stabilised in line with the other leg throughout and just go at your own pace. Okay, well done. Let's relax the legs, okay? And take a short pause there to go through the coaching points for the activity we have just shown you

Craig: Lie on your bed with a pillow or rolled towel under your weaker arm. Squeeze your bottom cheeks together. And repeat 10 times. Now bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the bed. Your carer will assist your weaker leg to do this, to keep it in position. Squeeze both cheeks equally. And repeat 10 times. Now place a rolled towel under your lower back. Your carer again will help you to do this. Tighten your tummy and squash the towel with your lower back. Repeat 10 times. Try to keep your head and neck in contact with your pillow as you do this exercise.

Nicole: Okay, Red Group. This is the first activity in the stability series. Your stroke survivor needs to be laying down, preferably on the bed with their heads supported with a pillow. And their weaker arm supported with pillow or rolled up towel. Ideally, you need to be stood at the head end of your stroke survivor, and we're going to be looking at tightening up the abdominal muscles, the lower abdominal muscles in this activity. It's a lot of control, okay? And we're looking at a small movement, where you're going to facilitate to try and get some symmetry. So carer or family member, your hands need to be on the shoulder blades of your stroke survivor. So you will be sliding your hands underneath, like so. And for this activity, bend your knees. Okay. And you're going to ask your stroke survivor to lift their head up off the pillow, tighten the lower apps and back down. Okay, so that is the activity that we're going to do. And your role is to keep hands on shoulder blades. Okay? And you're not pulling. You're not pushing. You're just giving some feedback and trying to get some stability there. Okay. Are we ready? Off we go. Up we go. Breathe out and breathe in and lower. That's one. And again, out. Just go as far as is comfortable. And you just feel it in your lower abdominal muscles and last one, out and breathe in. Rest. Okay? And we're going to do another two sets of those when you're ready. Okay. Ready? So off we go. Up. And down. Up. And down. Final one. Up and down. Okay, take another short rest. We'll do one more set. It's important that you as a carer or family member keep your hands in this position and don't move them around the head or neck or shoulders. So you're keeping them over the shoulder blades. Okay, We're gonna go now for the last set. Ready? Off we go. Up and down. And up. And down. Final one. And down. And relax and take a short pause. Now to go through the coaching points for the activity we have just shown you.

Craig: Lie down on your bed and ensure your head and weaker arm are supported with a pillow or towel. Your carer should stand at the head end of your bed and place their hands on your shoulder blades to support you. Lift your head as much as you can off the pillow, as you breathe out. Only lift as far as you are able to. And then return your head to the pillow. You may only be able to lift your head a little, which is great. Just do as much as you can. Your carer should not move their hands from your shoulder blades. Repeat this three times. Then rest and repeat the whole thing another two times.

Nicole: Okay, Red Group, this is stability exercise two. And for this activity, your stroke survivor needs to be lying on the bed with weaker arm supported and a pillow supporting the head. And for this activity, we're going to go into what's called a bridge position. So you'll ask your stroke survivor to bend the stronger leg up, put the foot flat on the bed, and you're going to support like you did in the warm up under the knee. Bend, Okay, to try and get them in line. You may then need to support the weaker leg there. Okay to stop it falling out. If there's any instability there around the hip. So you're going to keep the leg in that position in alignment and you're going to ask your stroke survivor to lift the bottom, tightening up up off the bed. So we're going to lift as high as they can. And what you should be looking for is symmetry. So making sure one side doesn't lift more than the other, hold it and then slowly, lower back down. So the downward movement on this activity is as important as the upward movement. So we're going to go for three repetitions. Okay, so we're ready. We're going to tighten up and lift. Try to keep it symmetrical. One, two, and three and lower. Slowly lowering, trying to get some control. Okay. If your stroke survivor is struggling with this and there is some obliquity in the pelvis, you can actually come in and support the leg with your shoulder to give them a little bit of feedback with your hand here. So, for the last two repetitions, I'll do it this way for you. You ready? Lift and lower. Good. And again, lift and lower. Well done. Okay. And relax. We're now going to take a little pause, and then we're going to do another set of three. Okay. Are we ready? So support the leg and lift and lower. That's one. And again. Lift and lower. Two and last one and lower. Okay, well done. We'll take a short pause now so you can go through the coaching points of the activity we have just shown you.

Craig: Lie down on your bed and ensure your head and weaker arm are supported with a pillow or towel. Bend both legs up so that your feet are flat on the bed. Your carer will support and assist your weaker leg. Throughout this activity, your carer will attempt to keep your weaker leg in position and your knees in line with one another. Lift your bottom up off the bed. Try to keep both sides in line with one another, making both sides work equally. If this is difficult, your carer can assist your weaker hip by giving it some feedback with a hand underneath your bottom. Repeat this three times. And then rest and repeat again.

Nicole: Okay, Red Group. This is the final activity of this series. So your stroke survivor will be in lying still and we're going to take some of the elements of the other activities that we've done and combine them together in this one. So what we're going to do for this one is we're going to bend the knees up, so you get your stroke survivor to bend a stronger leg up into that position, foot flat on the bed. And again carer or family member, you're going to help support this leg. Bring it up so that it's actually in line with the other one and keep it there. So it's nice and stable. Now we're going to do a head lifting movement like what we did in the warm up. But with this you're going to include the upper body so you can ask your stroke survivor to support the weaker arm okay across the body like that and we're going to ask them to slide the hands up towards the knees. OK, so we'll demonstrate the activity. So it's a sliding movement, and as you slide your head should lift away from the pillow and slowly lower down. It is important to stress that you are not pulling the arm at this point. You're trying to slide towards your knees. Okay. So carer family member you're supporting the leg. Are we ready? Off we go. So slide up as far as you can go just within your comfortable range and slowly down. Remember to breathe as you raise. Ready? Breathe out, reach forward and slowly lower. And one more. Okay, so sliding, not pulling and slowly lower and rest. And you should feel that in your lower part of your tummy, your lower abdominal muscles. Okay, if you're feeling it in your neck, don't go as high. Are we ready? Last set of three. Off we go. Slide, just to where it's comfortable. And down, that's one. And again, that's two. And final one that's three and relax. And with this activity, it doesn't actually matter if you don't get as high as what our model did there. As long as your neck is lifting from the pillar when you're doing the activity. Okay, so we'll take a short pause so we can go through the coaching points for the activity you have just seen.

Craig: Lie in the same position as in the previous exercise. Support your weaker arm across your body with your stronger arm. Slide your hands up towards your knees. As you slide your hands, your head may lift off the pillow. Slowly return back to the start position. Remember to breathe out as you slide your hands towards your knees. Breathe in as you return to the start position. And do not pull your weaker arm throughout this activity. Repeat three times. And then rest and repeat again.

Nicole: Hello, I'm Nicole Lavin. I'm a specialist neurological physiotherapist and I specialise in stroke rehabilitation.  I have over 20 years experience working with stroke survivors, following them through their journey from the acute stages right the way through the rehabilitation process up until discharge. I feel absolutely privileged to be here today working with A Stroke of Luck in collaboration with the Stroke Association to bring you these activity videos. I hope you enjoy.

Mark: Hi. My name is Mark Watterson. I'm also a physiotherapist who specialises in musculoskeletal injuries and neurological rehabilitation. My main passion in life is helping those recover from their stroke. I'm proud to bring you these activities in the videos you are about to watch.

Craig: In this set of activities, you will need: a pillow, your chair, your carer or family member your bed, a weighted object, such as a bottle with water in it, a tin or a light dumbbell. Before starting the warm up to this activity, it is very important that carers and family members watch the "Advice and exercises for carers" video.

Mark: Okay, red group. This is your warmup exercise for your strength. So you are going to need to carer or family member with you to support you throughout. We do suggest that you look back at the carer and guidance exercise videos for carers to help you throughout this. You're gonna be sitting down. Okay, You can be supported by the chair, but if you can, you want to be unsupported. Engaging your trunk and your core. What you gonna do with this movement is you're going to be moving your arms in a diagonal pattern from one side to the other, like so, while trying to maintain your posture in the chair. Now, if you're going to use your stronger side only because you don't have enough movement in your weaker side or your weaker arm, carers you're going to support the weaker arm at the armpit and the elbow. While, the stroke survivor completes the exercises like so. We're going to perform this now for 20 seconds. Here we go. So we're supporting the weaker arm so the stroke survivor can maintain upright posture and engage more in their trunk. Okay, once you've done one diagonal option, we're going to turn our arm over, and we're going to bring the palm up to the other shoulder. Like so. Carers are maintaining the weaker arm throughout. Keep it going, well done. And relax. Now, if you are going to involve your weaker arm okay, you'll use your stronger arm to support at the hand or wrist. Carers, go back to where you are, supporting at the elbow and underneath the arm. And you're going to go through the same movement going through whatever range you have possible that is pain free. So we'll just demonstrate that now and up, and down. Okay. We're gonna go through that now for 20 seconds. Here we go. Carers, keep that arm supported. Go within available range. If there is pain, don't force it. Just go to what's comfortable. Once you've done 20 seconds of that movement, you're going to turn the arm across and you're gonna come this way. Keep going. Keep going with what movement you've got. Don't work into pain, keeping your upright posture in the chair as best you can. And relax. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching points for the exercise you've just watched.

Craig: Sit upright in a chair. Try to sit without support from the back of the chair. But if you find this difficult, don't worry. Feel free to use the back rest of the chair. Your carer can support your weaker arm and assist it to move throughout this activity. Reach your stronger arm above your head and then reach diagonally downwards to touch the outside of your weaker knee and repeat for 20 seconds. Now turn your stronger palm over and let it rest by your knee. Then move your hand to touch your weaker shoulder and repeat for 20 seconds. Now allow your weaker arm to move in the same pattern as above for 20 seconds. Your carer can assist you to do this, or you can assist your weaker arm by holding it at the wrist. Do not pull or push your arm. And do not push past any pain or resistance.

Mark: Okay, for your first exercise Red Group, you're going to be sitting in your chair. You will need a carer or a family member with you for this exercise. So while you're in your chair, you can support your weaker arm with a pillow like so. So the elbow and shoulder is supported, allowing you to get a more upright position to engage your trunk. So, carers you want to place your hands on your stroke survivor's stomach just below the belly button, and you want to give them a little squeeze and push so they've got feedback to push your hand away as they engage with the exercise. Hold that for two seconds and relax. You want to repeat this for eight reps. And again. And relax. To provide a bit more feedback, you can provide a little bit of a shake. And relax. One more rep and relax. Well done. Four more reps to go and relax. Three more reps. Relax. Two more, well done. And your last one and relax there. As an alternative to this exercise, you can get your stroke to survivor to engage with the movement themselves. All they have to do is place their own hand, their strongest side on the stomach, feel their abdominals and get them to push their own hand away as they do the exercise. They're still gonna do two second hold and relax for eight reps. So we'll give that a go now. And squeeze and relax. Well done. And again, squeeze and relax. Well done. Keep going for eight reps. Now what this is going to do is help engage your trunk so you can feel more posturally stable when you're in sitting and normal reaching activities. Relax well done. Four more to go. Well done, five. And six Again if you want a bit more feedback, just give your stomach a little bit of a shake for the extra feedback. That's what your find, most stroke survivors will struggle to isolate their abdominals after their stroke. And relax. And take a moment now to go back through the coaching points for this exercise.

Craig: Support your weaker arm with a pillow and sit upright in your chair. Your carer can place their hand just under your belly button for feedback. Try to push your carer's hand away with your tummy and hold for two seconds. And repeat for eight repetitions. Your carer can give your tummy a little shake to provide more feedback. If you can try to put your stronger hand on your tummy and repeat the exercise.

Mark: Okay Red Group. This is your second exercise now for your strength category. So ideally, you need to be lying down flat and comfortable. Your bed is perfectly fine. Make sure your head is positioned with the pillow and with the weaker arm, you may wish to support it with another pillow, or you can use a towel rolled up like so so that the arms nice and supported and the upper body is aligned. Now this exercise is gonna be focusing on your legs and your lower limbs. So what we want to do is you want to ask your stroke survivor to lift their stronger leg up like so and she's going to be holding it in that position. Now, carers or family members, you will be involved. So we do suggest you look back at the advice and guidance for carers before you start with this video. So what you wanna do, is you want to position yourself on the weaker leg, place one hand underneath the knee and the other one on the foot of the weaker leg, and you're gonna bring it into the same position. Now, you may need to support the weaker leg as your stroke survivor may not have the control to keep that knee in the middle, you may find it wants to fall out to the side. If they can keep it, great. If not, just hold it there with a bit of downward pressure on the foot. From there, you're gonna ask your stroke survivor to straighten their right leg 10 times. Up and down like so and one more perfect. Once they've done 10 reps with that leg, you're going to assist them with the weaker leg. So to do this, you're going to place your hand back underneath the knee. Supporting the foot nice and controlled. Straighten that leg up and bring them back down. And straighten it out. And back down. During the whole time your stroke survivor is engaging with the activity with the weaker leg. You want to use them, get them to use as much activity as possible. You can provide feedback with resistance. So you want them to push through your hand with their foot and do as much work as they can, even as they bring the leg back up. You're just there to assist them. You can use what we've done in exercise one as well to help you with this. Engaging your abs, switching on your core just before you push out with your leg. So we're gonna give that a go now. 10 reps on each leg for your first set. So support this leg and straighten up your stronger leg for 10 reps. There we go. One, two and three, and four, and five. While they're doing that, make sure you're supporting their weaker leg. And six, seven, eight, nine. And ten. You're gonna ask them to keep their stronger leg there. Now you're going to help them with the weaker leg, here we go. And get your stroke patient to push you away, one and help them lift it up if they need it. Good. And out, two, three. Keep that leg nice and controlled for them if they're struggling. Four, five and six helped them lift the leg off if they're starting to struggle. Seven. Apply a bit more resistance from your hands on their foot if they need it, eight. Nine, last one. And ten and relax. Keep that knee supported if they need it. Allow a rest and we're gonna try it one more time. Again don't forget to engage your core so that you've got more trunk control and stability as you do the exercise. If you're ready, we're gonna do 10 more on each leg. So, carers support the weaker leg. And away we go. And one, and two. Keep going. We're halfway there. Well done. Six, seven. Eight, nine, last one. Well done. And carers, now it's up to you to assist and support the leg. Final 10. Stroke patient, push away, do as much as you can. And up, one. And two, keep that leg nice and straight for them. Three. Especially as they come up. Well done. Halfway there. And push. Two more. Last one. And relax. Finish the exercise by straightening out the legs. That one. And give yourself a moment there to rest after the exercise. When you're ready, have a look back at the coaching points of this activity that we've just shown you.

Craig: Lie flat on your back with a pillow under your head and a pillow or towel under your weaker arm to support it. Bend both knees so your feet are flat on the bed. Your carer can assist your weaker leg to do this. Straighten your stronger leg and then return it to the start position 10 times. Repeat with your weaker leg with your carers assistance. Try to push your carers hand away with your weaker foot as you are straightening your leg. Try to tighten up your tummy whilst you're doing this exercise and repeat it 10 times.

Mark: Okay, Red Group for your final strength exercise, you're going to be in your chair seated, and you're gonna need a carer and family member with you to support your weaker arm. So what you want to try and do is bring yourself off from the chair unsupported if you can. If you find this a challenge, you can get your carer or family member to place a pillow behind your back to bring yourself up and maintain that upright position. Carers and family members you're gonna come in when you're gonna support the weaker arm so that your stroke survivor can maintain that upright, straight position in the middle. While you're supporting the arm, with your stronger arm, you're going to pick up a weighted object, and we're going to press it above our heads. If you can do this for the dumbbell, if you have them at home. If you struggle with weight, you can use bottles of water with a filled up a different amounts to increase or decrease the weight. So what you gonna do? You gonna hold the weight in your stronger arm, carers are going to come back to the weaker arm and support it and keep that upright position. And you're gonna bend at the elbow and press the weight above your head for 10 reps. Just like so we'll do 10 reps now. Here we go. And one, nice and controlled, two and three. Well done, keep going. And four and five, halfway there. Nice and controlled pace. Carers make sure that arm is still supported. Stroke survivors, make sure you're sitting up nice and tall. And seven, eight, two more to. Nine and 10. And relax there. Give yourself a few minutes to have a rest if you need to. You're going to complete that exercise three times 10 reps each time. If you like a progression, you can make the weight heavier each time, depending on how much you struggle. So now that you've had a rest, will give another set a go for 10 reps. So once again, up we get. And one, two and three, And four so the goal is also to have a weight where you are feeling the effects of it. It's not too easy. It's not too hard, but you can feel your body working. Here we go. That's rep number six, four more to go, Well done, nearly done. And relax. There's your two sets done. Should we start to feel that in your shoulders, you will need time to break for a rest. Usually between 60 to 90 seconds should be enough. And then you're going to get going for your final set. So whenever you're ready here we get a last set, well done. And one. And two. So you might have stayed with the same weight the whole time to start you off, You might have increased the way each with each set to make it a bit more challenging. And four. Either way you should be starting to feel the effects of the exercise by your last set. Keep it going. Nearly done. Keep that upright position even as you start to struggle, couple more, and one more and relax. Give yourself a moment now to go through the coaching points for this exercise we have just shown you.

Craig: Sit in a chair. Try to sit up right away from the back of the chair. If this is difficult, place a pillow behind your back. Try to sit upright throughout this exercise. Your carer will support your weaker arm to allow you to sit more in the middle. Hold a weighted object, such as a dumbbell or bottle with water in it with your stronger hand. Bend your elbow and then raise your arm above your head 10 times. Rest and repeat for two sets. To progress you can use a heavier weight, such as more water in the bottle.