Aphasia is the loss of language skills due to a brain injury that is usually caused by a stroke. Over two million people in the U.S. live with aphasia. About 1/3 of stroke survivors have some form of aphasia, that is 225,000 new individuals with aphasia annually in the U.S. alone. Most people with aphasia have some difficulty producing words and sentences, and some may also have difficulty understanding what others are saying. This affects their ability to communicate naturally and participate in everyday activities. In all, aphasia often negatively impacts the lives and emotional well-being of people with aphasia and their families. Improvements following traditional speech-language therapy can be variable and limited, and the search for more optimal and holistic interventions continues.
Our Aphasia Physical EXercise (APEX) project proposes a novel approach involving high-intensity physical exercise, known for both its overall health and cognitive benefits, to enhance aphasia recovery. Despite growing consensus on the positive role that exercise has in stroke rehabilitation, there is a lack of high-intensity and accessible exercise programs that foster adherence among stroke survivors. Additionally, the impact of physical exercise on aphasia recovery remains understudied.
To address these needs, we created the new High-Intensity Functional Interval InterVention (HI-FIIV). This is a novel high-intensity physical exercise program designed specifically for stroke survivors, made to enhance language, cognitive, motor and physical abilities in aphasia recovery. Our findings from an initial pilot study are very encouraging and now we plan to fully explore the effects of this tailored exercise intervention on aphasia recovery in a large clinical trial, the APEX study.
This website provides more information on this novel intervention, our preliminary results and ongoing studies, and the role of exercise in aphasia and stroke recovery in general. We hope you find this information helpful. Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or if you wish to participate in one of our studies!