Revolutionizing Recovery: How Virtual Care is Transforming Neurorehabilitation

By Your Health Magazine

By Guillem Singla Buxarrais, Co-Founder & CEO — Neurofenix

Receiving medical treatment often requires overcoming several hurdles. To connect with their doctors, patients must deal with the time, travel, and expense that in-office appointments involve. A recent survey revealed that the complications involved with simply scheduling an appointment are sometimes considered too much of a burden for 61 percent of patients.

For those receiving neurorehabilitation, the hurdles can be even higher. Stroke survivors and other neurological patients often face mobility issues, cognitive challenges, and chronic fatigue that can make simply leaving their homes overwhelming. And if they are not able to get to their rehabilitation appointments, the issues stemming from their condition can linger longer than they need to.

To help neurological patients reduce the burdens associated with obtaining care, healthcare providers now have the option to offer virtual neurorehabilitation at home. This innovation, which leverages modern technology tools to empower home-based therapy for neurological conditions, is revolutionizing recovery.

The basics of virtual care

Virtual neurorehabilitation at home uses telehealth technology to give patients remote access to rehab. It combines all the services patients need to connect with care providers from the comfort of their homes, including remote scheduling, live video conferencing, and the secure exchange of information needed to plan and track treatment.

Additionally, telehealth adds to the many benefits of virtual care because it reduces the geographical barriers that can keep patients from accessing the care they need. Essentially, it puts any care within reach, regardless of the type of care needed, where the patient is located, and the transportation or mobility issues they face. For patients suffering from neurological issues, that is a huge benefit.

Telehealth also allows providers to deliver care at more affordable fees, which can be very helpful to stroke survivors and other neurological patients who may have been forced by their condition to stop working. By lowering costs and increasing access, virtual care facilitates more consistent care, which leads to better outcomes. For those with neurological conditions, improving outcomes can mean a faster return to independent living.

Key components of virtual neurorehabilitation at home

Neurological patients have unique needs. Even those who have suffered the same ailments, such as a stroke, can be left with very different conditions. To be effective, rehabilitation must consider those conditions and include unique steps to address them.

Virtual neurorehabilitation at home is not limited to the type of rehab it can support. Instead, it gives doctors a platform for a tailored, goal-oriented approach customized to address the patient’s individual issues and provide optimal outcomes.

For instance, if a stroke has affected a patient’s ability to talk, the telehealth tools used for home-based therapy can support speech therapy. Similarly, if the stroke has impacted a patient’s fine motor skills, occupational therapy designed to improve dexterity and strength can also be provided via virtual neurorehabilitation at home.

Home-based therapy for neurological conditions also allows healthcare providers to reliably and accurately monitor patient progress. Continuous monitoring is a key component of neurological care, helping doctors track the effectiveness of therapy and detect signs that medical events like strokes could happen again.

Virtual rehab can give therapists the information they need to identify improvement in range of motion, strength, and balance — all key metrics needed to evaluate a patient’s progress. It also allows therapists to assess language comprehension and speech clarity. For those suffering from cognitive setbacks, virtual rehab can be used to conduct memory, attention, and problem-solving tests.

Combining therapy regimens with wearable devices allows doctors and therapists to track the frequency and duration of exercises prescribed to patients as part of their rehab. Wearables can also track key health metrics such as heart rate and blood pressure, which can help to determine the overall impact of exercise sessions.

The impact of virtual neurorehabilitation at home

Every patient is eager to transition from hospital care to home, and virtual neurorehabilitation at home facilitates this transition without delaying the next phase of their recovery. It offers a smooth transition that reduces the time patients stay in hospitals and rehab while providing the care needed to avoid readmissions resulting from falls or other complications.

Virtual neurorehabilitation at home makes the rehab doctors prescribe more accessible, affordable, and convenient, promoting patient adherence to treatment. With the hurdles to rehab removed, patients are more likely to stay committed to the process and achieve the outcomes needed to optimize their quality of life.

– Guillem Singla Buxarrais is the Co-Founder and CEO of Neurofenix, where he leads efforts to revolutionize neurorehabilitation through innovative digital health solutions. With a strong background in healthcare innovation and biomedical engineering, Guillem’s passion for improving the lives of neurological patients is deeply personal, shaped by his own experiences with neurological conditions. He co-founded Neurofenix in 2016 to address gaps in neurorehabilitation, developing solutions like the NeuroBall, a groundbreaking virtual therapy device for stroke recovery. His leadership has driven the company’s growth and earned him recognition, including selection in the prestigious MedTech Innovator Accelerator Program in 2021.