Aerobic Exercise Recommendations to Optimize Best Practices In Care after Stroke: AEROBICS 2024 Update

There are 400,000 people living with stroke in Canada and this number is expected to nearly double in the next 20 years. Research has shown that exercise is an important part of healthy living after stroke, but people living with stroke remain physically inactive. To help health providers promote exercise after stroke, a meeting was held in 2010 with an international group of experts to review the body of research, and the "Aerobic Exercise Recommendations to Optimize Best Practices in Care after Stroke" was developed in 2013 (AEROBICS 2013). Research and healthcare evolve over time, and the recommendations were updated in 2019 (AEROBICS 2019) to include the latest evidence and ensure the recommendations were current for stroke rehabilitation programs. It is now time to update AEROBICS again. New research continues to emerge that build our understanding about the benefits of exercise after stroke (for example, on thinking and memory), different ways to prescribe exercise (for example, high-intensity interval training or virtual exercise), and how we can best support both men and women to participate in exercise (considerations of sex and gender in exercise after stroke). We also need to consider the impacts of COVID-19 on exercise training after stroke. We plan to hold two half-day virtual meetings with researchers, physical therapists working in stroke rehabilitation, and people living with stroke to review research published since 2019 to develop AEROBICS 2024. Our team members are from all across Canada, and we also have experts from the US. We will also consult with our Stroke Advisory Group, a local group of 5 people with a range of backgrounds, men and women, and experiences from how the stroke affected them, which will help ensure that AEROBICS 2024 suits the needs of the broader stroke community.