Professor Nick Ward is the Professor of Clinical Neurology & Neurorehabilitation at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. This award lectureship recognizes Professor Ward's outstanding clinical, intellectual, and service contributions in the area of stroke. Professor Ward presented his lecture "A Framework For Stroke Recovery" at the ACRM Conference 2022
Stroke is still considered a single incident disease with most resources targeted to the first few hours, days or weeks after onset. However, the consequences of stroke are very clearly long term and often progressive. Ongoing treatment to promote recovery and support independence is largely absent and many patients feel abandoned after they have left hospital. Concerted efforts to create an evidence base to justify a revolution in how we promote recovery after stroke are required but accelerated progress in the field requires a conceptual framework. This framework should recognise that impairment and recovery must be understood from a behavioural perspective, albeit one that is modulated by patient specific factors or states. This approach will allow us to create a scientifically motivated, rational framework for understanding how to deliver effective neurorehabilitation treatments to patients after stroke.