Stroke Rehabilitation Therapy

More than 70,000 people in the United Sates of America suffer from a stroke every year. A majority of these patients require rehabilitation therapy. Stroke rehabilitation therapy is the process of restoring the patients' health and trying to return to his normal life. After a stroke, a patient may lose his ability to move or even control parts of his body. Stroke rehabilitation therapy is a treatment chartered for him to regain his control and make him independent again. It involves repetitive exercises to be performed everyday. Though the therapy may not be a complete cure for the effects of a stroke, it can substantially help the patient achieve better health and the best possible outcome.

Generally, a patient is enrolled into stroke rehabilitation center, 24-48 hours after he has been treated for the stroke in the hospital and is medically stable. The stroke rehabilitation therapy is started immediately as it is said that a patient responds to therapy most effectively during the first 12 weeks after the stroke. It is difficult to say how well a patient will respond to his treatment. It depends on what part of the brain has been damaged and how much has been damaged in the course of the stroke.

There are several therapies devised to cure a stroke. A few current avenues of them are:

1. Motor relearning

   Constraint induced movement therapy- This therapy focuses on movement of paralyzed and immobile limbs for normal functioning and muscle activation. The main feature of this therapy is that the immobile limb is left free for use and the good one is tied up. This stimulates the functioning of the disabled limb and can restore it back to normal.

   Mental Imagery- Mental imagery helps the mobility of limbs and initiates faster recovery.

2. Brain Repair

   Stem Cells- Transplantation of cells into the brain

   Electrical Stimulation- Brain waves are altered using electrical impulses, thus exciting cells in the brain to work more effectively.

3. Mirror Therapy

   The patient is presented with a mirror image of his unaffected arm. Looking at the mirror, the patient is asked to maneuver his affected arm under the illusion that it is the unaffected arm. This leads to the increase in activation of the affected limb.

4. Physiotherapy - A series of exercises are designed for the patient based on his medical history and effects of the stroke. These are to be performed by him regularly, which slowly bring his limbs back to normal functioning.

Pharmacological Therapies

1. Oral Drug Therapy- The medications in this therapy act upon the central nervous system to decrease stretch reflexes. Though they are known to relieve pain the medications have certain side effects. They are taken orally.
2. Intrathecal Drug Therapy- In this therapy, the medication is directly pumped to the central nervous system where it remains in the spinal cord and has fewer side effects than oral drugs.
3. Injection- It is injected directly into the muscle. It causes relaxation of the muscle.
4. Surgery- In surgery, the bones and muscle structure is altered to remove spasticity.

Thus, the stroke rehabilitation therapy, though not a guarantee to a cure for a stroke, is an alternative treatment. For some patients, rehabilitation is an on going process as they have to continue doing the same exercises for life in order to function. It becomes part of their routine. The period for rehabilitation is not defined. It may range from a few weeks to a few years.