Can remote arm exercises ease dementia caregiver burden?
NCT ID NCT06289569
First seen Jun 24, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests whether home-based telerehabilitation therapy—hand and arm exercises prescribed by an occupational therapist and done remotely—is feasible and helpful for stroke survivors with vascular dementia. The main goal is to see if it lessens the burden on family caregivers. About 120 participants will do standard home therapy for 4 weeks, then app-driven teletherapy for another 4 weeks, with researchers tracking arm function and any side effects.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- home telerehabilitation therapy (occupational therapist-prescribed hand/arm exercises delivered remotely)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a convenient, home-based therapy to improve arm movement and reduce stress on caregivers for people with vascular dementia after stroke.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early feasibility study with only 120 participants, so results may not apply to everyone. The therapy is non-invasive, but benefits may be modest or hard to measure.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 120 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Dec 2024
- Expected to finish
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Apr 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 110 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Symptomatic ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke verified by computerized axial tomography or magnetic resonance imaging * at least 6 months post stroke * At least some active movement in the affected upper extremity (MRS 1 or more in shoulder elbow or wrist) * Ability to provide informed consent, or LAR able to provide consent * Expressed willingness to comply with all study procedures and attend all study-related visits for both the patient and at least one caregiver. * Age ≥ 18. * Ability to follow one-step commands. * Community-dwelling with transportation to evaluation sessions. * Ability to operate the therapy system with minimal assistance, including sufficient corrected vision to perceive objects from a distance of 5 feet. * Modified Ashworth Scale Score 3 or less in the involved upper extremity * Passive range of motion within functional ranges at the shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with history of severe alcohol or drug abuse, psychiatric illnesses like severe depression, poor motivational capacity, or severe language disturbances, particularly of receptive nature or with serious cognitive deficits (defined as unable to follow study instructions even with help from caregiver). * Patients with bilateral paresis, or weakness or sensory damage due to peripheral causes (e.g. peripheral nerve injury, muscle or orthopedic injury etc.) * Patients with severe uncontrolled medical problems that would render intensive rehabilitation unfeasible or unsafe (e.g. cardiovascular disease, unstable cardiac arrhythmia, severe rheumatoid arthritis, active joint deformity of arthritic origin, active cancer or renal disease, any kind of end-stage pulmonary or cardiovascular disease, or a deteriorated condition due to age, epilepsy or others). * Concurrent participation in other experimental upper extremity rehabilitation trials that would interfere with results. * Non-English-speaking individuals will only be eligible if they can provide the appropriate translator for all the sessions of the study as no funding is available to pay for such services. However, we plan to include them once funding has been secured in the subsequent larger trial. * Pregnancy * Prisoners
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Houston Methodist Hospital
RECRUITINGHouston, Texas, 77030, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Moving patterns may help stroke survivors read faster
- Vibrating wearables put stroke walking to the test
- Robot plus electrical stimulation aims to rebuild arm movement after stroke
- Can a checklist and heart monitor stop repeat strokes?
- Heart hole or stroke trigger? global registry tracks who gets closure and what happens next