Upper Limb Retraining (F2F), Woy Woy, NSW

A 3-day face-to-face workshop for occupational therapists and physiotherapists

Presenters: Dr Annie McCluskey & Dr Lauren Christie, occupational therapists and Karl Schurr, physiotherapist, The StrokeEd Collaboration, Australia

Learning objectives: By the end of the 3 days, participants will be able to:

• Name the essential components of normal reach and manipulation
• Recognise common compensations when observing stroke survivors attempting to grasp objects, and explain how to minimise compensatory strategies
• Name and discuss factors thought to contribute to the development of muscle overactivity, spasticity and stiffness, and intervention strategies to help minimise these secondary problems
• Explain the relationship and differences between overactivity, spasticity, muscle length changes and stiffness, missing essential components and compensations
• Plan and conduct an assessment and training session with a stroke survivor using motor learning principles and task-specific practice
• Discuss factors which affect motor learning, and can be modified to enhance learning and increase client practice
• Use an electrical stimulation machine to stimulate upper limb muscles.
• Discuss current evidence for constraint-induced movement therapy, mental practice, mirror box therapy and electrical stimulation for improving upper limb motor recovery

Pre-requisites: None. Suitable for students and recent graduates through to experienced clinicians.

Number of registrants: Limited to 24 therapists because there are clinical sessions involving 8 stroke survivors and small groups of 3 therapists.