A stroke is a brain attack caused by a blockage or bleeding inside or around the brain. This life-changing occurrence is affecting many people each second. 

The effects of stroke vary from person to person. Due complex nature of brain injury, there is no general way for everyone to get healed in the same way. Thus, personalized rehabilitation is required to address the particular needs of the stroke patient. 

The physical rehabilitation focuses on relearning control and coordination of movements affected by damage to areas of the brain, and on ways to cope with everyday activities to compensate for losses in function. What happens with all the patients affected by stroke? How does a successful physical rehabilitation look like? 

There is a new way that evolved over the past few years:

Design-Thinking applied in physical rehabilitation and here’s why we should do that. 

Design-Thinking Process

First of all, what is Design-thinking? 

It’s a process based on the combination of procedures from ethnography, basic brainstorming, and constant iteration. It uses tools from various fields. These methods need to be adapted to a problem that is going to be improved or solved. Simply explained, it consists of a six-step process of the following steps:

Design Thinking made actionable. For quite some time Design Thinking has… | by Christophe Pian | The Colony | Medium

Design-Thinking process includes repeating steps. Image by NNGROUP.com

Empathize: Emphatic understanding of user needs

Define: Definition of parameters and the focus

Ideate: Brainstorming of potential solutions

Prototype: Creation of a prototype

Test: Testing of parameters and prototype

Implement: Implement the prototype successfully

During this procedure of constant iteration, it is the users’ needs that are the driving force in the Design Thinking process.

Looking at the visualization of the Design-Thinking process, it appears to be a linear and simple process. But it isn’t. Here’s an example.

Sometimes we might think we understood the patient fully, we think we recognized all the symptoms and empathized. But some things occur with a delay and we don’t know everything as we think. New unpredictable things might occur during physical rehabilitation. That’s why it has to be defined and refined over again and again. Then, we ideate on the possible exercises and things that should be included in the rehabilitation process. Once we have a final prototype of a possible rehabilitation process, we might think it’s perfect. But it isn’t. For example, what if the patient didn’t even come to the therapy? What if the patients did all the things that they’ve been told, but still not feeling better? What happens then? We simply start again to empathize and repeat all the steps until it’s successful.

Jumping between the steps and its context

Jumping backwards and forwards between steps are the norm. Getting feedback from medical team, therapists and the patient to improve a rehabilitation is a crucial part of the process.
Ein Bild, das Zeichnung enthält. Automatisch generierte Beschreibung

An extended version of design-thinking includes further steps ahead, such as understanding and observing. Even after a successful implementation, there is a need to check it up regularly and transform it into a sustainable business model.

Human-centered approach

A Human-centered approach is important because everything starts with the patient. With a human. And a human body is complex. It starts with understanding the patient in a deeper way including their emotions, considering the pain points in a roadmap, considering various stakeholders, considering external influences, and contrasting all the things again from a holistic point of view. Physical rehabilitation requires a human-centered approach due to different types of stroke patients, the diversity of symptoms, and the several ways of making a successful rehabilitation work.

Ein Bild, das Screenshot enthält. Automatisch generierte Beschreibung

Design-thinking is a problem-solving process. Image by peer insight

Understanding why there is a problem in successful rehabilitation, why a physical rehabilitation fails, what if the patient forgot their therapy or intentionally don’t show up, what and why something needs to be improved and what worked out well, is very important to note. 

Patient, Public Involvement and Data

Different stakeholders in the stroke rehabilitation setting, i.e. clinical biomechanist, therapist, and patient need to be considered. Everyone has a different point of view and focus. For instance, a biomechanist focuses on a rehabilitation session on gaining a detailed understanding of the dynamic forces exerted by the patient’s muscles as a means to improving the quality of treatment, and ultimately the healthcare outcome. 

A therapist is concerned with assisting the patient in a program of movement exercises which help in the neuroplastic reshaping of the brain’s functions, damaged by the stroke. The patient is concerned with recovering, to as great an extent as possible, their normal (i.e. former) self. 

Consequently, this rehabilitation setting becomes a theatre for intensively social and emotional processes involving physical contact and a two-way process. Between the therapist and patient, there is a need for clear communication and understanding and of what movements should be made and why. It’s also important to measure progress. This, to see what progress has been made and what needs to be changed and still improved. Data is everything. Only in this way, we can manifest those things and analyze them to improve a situation.

Integration of mixed methods 

The physical rehabilitation of stroke patients is a complex ongoing process with many different factors to consider. It is challenging, because of the complexity of human body and human mind. One solution to improve the rehabilitation process might impact another aspect in a disadvantaged way. It’s a wicked problem that needs to be triangulated and viewed from different point of views.

Data plays an important role. An effective communication and patient’s understanding of their treatment have been identified to have a positive impact on their compliance, leading to a better chance of improved treatment outcomes. 

With the given data the prototypes of successful physical rehabilitation need to be designed adaptive and more human-centered. The biggest obstacle is often the implementation part of the whole concept. This includes the roles of many different people, patient emotions, patient’s behavior connected to psychology and other things planned out in the design-thinking process. It all needs to work to be well-coordinated and work in harmony as one.

Sometimes a completely new prototype has to be created and tested again. That is why, it can be a much longer process than we’ve expected. But the main focus and driving force is the user’s needs. The patient itself. Design-thinking humanizes the process and that’s what makes it sustainable when it comes to stroke rehabilitation.

References

(2020). What is human centered design? Creaholic clients will benefit hugely from this new area of expertise. https://creaholic.com/news/human-centered-design