Stroke rehabilitation, or, in more optimistic terms, stroke recovery, is the process by which patients with disabling strokes undergo treatment to help them return to normal life as much as possible by regaining and relearning the skills of everyday living. It is multidisciplinary in that it involves a team with different skills working together to help the patient. These include nursing staff, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and usually a physician trained in rehabilitation medicine. Some teams may also include psychologists and social workers and pharmacists. Patients may demand access to state of the art treatment with the help of their own doctor.
For most stroke patients, the rehabilitation process includes nursing, occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), therapeutic recreation (TR) and speech therapy (or speech language therapy, SLP). OT involves exercise and training to help the stroke patient relearn everyday activities, sometimes called the Activities of daily living (ADLs), such as eating and drinking, dressing, bathing, cooking, reading and writing, and toileting. Therapeutic recreation works on several areas including problem solving, improving movement and re-entry into the community through familiar, new, and adaptive leisure skills. Speech and language therapy is appropriate for patients who have problems understanding speech or written words, or problems forming speech. Speech therapists also assess a person's ability to safely swallow after a stroke.
The rehabilitation team have regular meetings at which the patient and family may be present to discuss the current situation and to set goals and to ensure effective communication. In most cases the desired goal is to enable the patient to return home to independent living, although this is not always possible.
Stroke rehabilitation can last from a few days up to several months. Most return of function is seen in the first few days and weeks and then falls off, if only traditional OT, PT, TR and SLP are used. In contrast, brain repair, neurogenesis, and neural rewiring can eventually be enhanced significantly medically long after this short therapeutic window.
For most stroke patients, the rehabilitation process includes nursing, occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), therapeutic recreation (TR) and speech therapy (or speech language therapy, SLP). OT involves exercise and training to help the stroke patient relearn everyday activities, sometimes called the Activities of daily living (ADLs), such as eating and drinking, dressing, bathing, cooking, reading and writing, and toileting. Therapeutic recreation works on several areas including problem solving, improving movement and re-entry into the community through familiar, new, and adaptive leisure skills. Speech and language therapy is appropriate for patients who have problems understanding speech or written words, or problems forming speech. Speech therapists also assess a person's ability to safely swallow after a stroke.
The rehabilitation team have regular meetings at which the patient and family may be present to discuss the current situation and to set goals and to ensure effective communication. In most cases the desired goal is to enable the patient to return home to independent living, although this is not always possible.
Stroke rehabilitation can last from a few days up to several months. Most return of function is seen in the first few days and weeks and then falls off, if only traditional OT, PT, TR and SLP are used. In contrast, brain repair, neurogenesis, and neural rewiring can eventually be enhanced significantly medically long after this short therapeutic window.
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