Strokes
Strokes are also known as cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) or brain attacks. When you have a stroke the blood supply to a part of your brain is disrupted and stopped in a similar fashion to having a heart attack.
As your brain needs a constant blood flow this is a serious problem and unless the blood flow can be restarted to the area with a few hours, permanent damage may occur to the area.
Unfortunately your brain cannot heal itself so the aim of immediate stroke treatment is to minimise the damage. Stroke rehabilitation aims to stimulate your brain to find new pathways round the damaged are and improve any post stroke problems you have.
The picture on the right shows a CT scan of the brain after a stroke. The grayish white area inside the white rectangle is the damaged part. Although it doesn't look very big compared to the rest of the brain the effects can be devastating.
Types of strokes
There are 2 main types of strokes. They are ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes
Ischaemic strokes
Ischaemic is medical speak for not enough blood. In an ischaemic stroke a clot blocks either the brains’ blood vessel or it is too narrow and not enough blood can flow. Blood cannot reach parts of the brain and the cells soon start to die.
It’s the commonest cause of strokes with around 75% of strokes classed as ischaemic strokes. The main risk factors are high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (damage and furring up of blood vessel walls), smoking and an irregular heartbeat.
Haemorrhagic strokes
Haemorrhagic is medical speak for too much blood. In a haemorrhagic stroke a brain blood vessel bursts and the blood leaks and causes brain damage. It happens in around 25% of strokes and can affect any age group from babies to octogenarians.
The main risk factors are aneurysms (weak blood vessel walls which stretch like a balloon before ‘popping’), high blood pressure (especially if untreated or unknown) and blood clotting disorder.
Stroke Symptoms
Stroke symptoms can include confusion, difficulty moving a limb, poor speech, facial drooping and severe headache. Read more information on the symptoms of stroke here.
Stroke treatment
The treatment of stroke covers both the immediate emergency treatment and the longer term treatment and rehabilitation after a stroke.
Stroke Rehabilitation
Stroke rehabilitation starts as soon as possible after a stroke. Often after a stroke the initial problems such as with speech and movement start to improve after a few days to weeks. This is because brain cells that aren’t dead but have been damaged need time to recover. However this is only a small silver lining.
For better recovery you need months of rehabilitation involving physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and writing and reading practice if necessary.
Stroke rehabilitation using muscle stimulation is increasingly used as an aid to recovery. Muscle stimulation gently moves the affected limb and works the muscles to relax and strengthen them.
Muscle stimulators are now small and designed to be used at home. Most modern stimulators have preset programmes so all you have to do is pick a programme and start. For more information on muscle stimulators please click here
It was thought the brain was ‘static’ and once damaged no new connections could be made. This is completely untrue. With the right stimulation the brain can make many new connections and bypass the damaged area.
This stimulation is information flowing into your brain and you using your brain. Stroke rehabilitation is a whole large topic in itself and being actively researched. Rehabilitation aims to maximise your recovery and stimulate the brain to make the new connections to bypass the damaged areas. Other parts of the brain can also take over control of different functions but NOT automatically. It needs lots of work.
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