Recovering From a Stroke

Physiotherapy can help you through recovery following a stroke with a program that focuses on challenging your brain and nerves, as well as muscles, balance and coordination.
Treatment methods that physiotherapist use with patients recovering from a stroke include:

• Mobility and strengthening exercises
• Increasing muscle tone in the affected groups
• Trunk stability and strengthening
• Regaining balance to improve stability and coordination
• Increasing exercise tolerance and endurance
• Assisting with activities to encourage independence in regular daily tasks
• Improving gait to prevent falls and lessen the difficulty of movement

Working to improve strength and balance should also be done at home to ease the recovery process. Here are a few tips to try out:

• Each day, raise your affected arm up and down with your unaffected hand.
• Think about moving one finger at a time and try fanning them out a throughout the day.
• Strengthen arm and hand muscles by pushing your affected side against a mattress or pillow.
• Practice making a fist.
• Shifting weight from side to side while sitting up straight.
• Reaching your non-affected arm out toward the weak side.
• Reaching forward with clasped hands, eventually adding going from seated position to standing.

​
Working to regain normality in your life following a stroke can be discouraging. It is hard to remember that rehabilitation does not occur overnight. While some people see significant improvements from the effects of a stroke within a few weeks, you are more likely to see recovery gradually while receiving Physiotherapy treatment.
It is also important to make sure you take precaution to prevent future strokes by:

1. Identifying your personal risk and its factors.
2. Making lifestyle changes to reduce your risk and ask your doctor about any necessary medication.
3. Recognizing the signs and symptoms of a stroke by memorizing FAST (facial drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulties, and time).