News : Stroke recovery
Different Strokes. Support for young people following a stroke
Different Strokes-Young Acquired Brain Injury is a club for stroke survivors from 15 to 35 and their carers that provides mentoring, support and information. The age range isn’t so so strict. This may be the group for you.
Categories: Stroke recovery, Physiotherapy
National April Falls Day- April 2nd
Falls represent the single greatest cost to the health system, greater than road trauma. Join us for National April Falls day on April 2nd.
Categories: Stroke recovery, Home based rehabilitation, Occupational therapy, Falls prevention program, Physiotherapy
Stroke services failing to provide
A report into stroke services across Australia released in October 2011 showed a major failure to provide best practice care in acute and follow up services. Prompt access to specialised treatment units have been shown to reduce deaths and lessen impairments. Yet many Australians are unable to access these units. A report into stroke services across Australia showed many stroke victims are cared for outside of these units – a staggering 42% were unable to access specialised stroke unit care.
Being in hospital is merely the beginning of a stroke survivor’s journey. Rehabilitation and planning for leaving hospital are vital to improving life after stroke, yet over a third of hospitals do not assess their patients’ need for further rehabilitation as standard practice. Four out of 10 hospitals did not give stroke survivors a plan for care after leaving hospital. Two thirds of hospitals had no protocols for reviewing patients after discharge, and one third did not provide any after discharge contact information.
Categories: Feature Article, Stroke recovery, Home based rehabilitation, Physiotherapy
Hemiplegic Shoulder Pain after Stroke
Hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP) is very common after stroke, with some studies reporting incidence as high as 84%. The usual onset is 2-3 months post stroke. The pain can be intense and result in reduce functional recovery and, increased disability. The pain itself can have very real negative effects resulting in depression, loss of sleep, loss of self worth, anxiety and irritability.
Categories: Feature Article, Stroke recovery, Physiotherapy
Strength training in Stroke
High intensity activity, including strength training is an important part of rehabilitation after stroke. Research over the past 20 years has shown that muscle weakness may be directly responsible for compromised muscle function and that strength training not only improves strength and function, in most cases it can reduce spasticity.
Categories: Feature Article, Stroke recovery, Home based rehabilitation, Falls prevention program, Physiotherapy
Walking after stroke- How to get the best results
Have you had a stroke and found that you are still struggling with your walking? Do you feel like you are unable to get out of the house enough because you can't walk after a stroke. Are you worried about having a fall when you walk? You are probably like most people who have achieved some level of mobility following stroke but are still extremely limited. Walking can be limited for many reasons but new studies are showing us some promising results to rehabilitate walking after stroke.
Categories: Feature Article, Stroke recovery, Falls prevention program, Physiotherapy
Gold Star Award goes to John Smith
John has made amazing gains and walked 50 metres in his last session with a stick and help of one person! Prior to this John needed maximum help of two people just to get in and out of his wheelchair and was unable to take a step at all..
Categories: Gold Star Award, Stroke recovery
Stroke Rehabilitation: Are you getting enough?
Recent studies show that on average people receive less than 60 minutes of rehabilitation a day in inpatient care following a stroke. Is this enough? We still don’t know exactly how much is enough, but we do know that people who receive more therapy, earlier, tend to have more positive outcomes and less dependency.
Categories: Feature Article, Stroke recovery, Home based rehabilitation
New exercises for arm and hand after stroke
Approximately two thirds of stroke survivors continue to experience difficulty moving their arm resulting in diminished quality of life, dependence and possibly pain. Conventional rehabilitation can provide modest improvements but physiotherapists are looking at new ways to improve the outcomes of therapy. Virtual reality (VR) technology is becoming more and more common as adjunctive therapy in neuro-rehabilitation. VR and video game applications like Wii and Pablo® are novel and potentially useful technologies that can be combined with conventional rehabilitation for upper arm improvement after stroke.
Categories: Product Review, Stroke recovery, Home based rehabilitation
Stance Control for Lower Limb Mobility
People with severe lower limb instability and weakness may require their knee to be locked in extension when they stand on their leg to create a stable limb and enable safe ambulation. Conditions in which this may be common include Polio, Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke. Darren Pereira and colleagues recently published a paper on the benefits of stance control in this population.
Categories: Feature Article, Stroke recovery, Multiple Sclerosis