Stroke Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation in India

• The symptoms of stroke appear suddenly and often more than one symptom appears at the same time. Some of the warning signs of stroke are:

• Sudden numbness, weakness or paralysis of the face, arm or leg, especially on half side of the body
• Trouble with walking
• Sudden trouble with speaking and understanding
• Sudden severe headache with no cause
• Trouble with seeing in one or both eyes

• Stroke is a medical emergency and prompt treatment helps in minimizing brain damage and potential complications.

• The type or degrees of impairment or disability after stroke depends upon which area of brain is damaged and how much of it is damaged. Some of the commonly seen impairments of stroke are:

• Sensory disturbances including pain
• Motor deficits which may involve – tone alterations, abnormal reflexes, abnormal synergy patterns, paresis and altered muscle activation patterns, motor programming deficits
• Visual deficits
• Problems using or understanding language
• Problems with thinking and memory
• Emotional disturbances
• Seizures
• Bladder and bowel dysfunction

• In order to determine the most appropriate treatment for stroke and rule out other possible causes of the symptoms, such as brain tumor or a drug reaction, following are the tests that may be done to determine the risk of stroke:

• Physical Examination
• Blood tests
• MRI brain
• CT scan
• Cerebral angiogram
• Carotid ultrasound
• Echocardiogram

Emergency treatment for stroke depends upon whether the patient has suffered an ischaemic or haemmorhagic stroke. However, the line of treatment in both the two involves – medications, surgical procedures, lifestyle changes and stroke rehabilitation.

After stroke, the time taken for recovery varies among different patients and is highly dependent upon the treatment given, severity of stroke at the onset, type of stroke and age of the patient. Younger patients with milder stoke and non-haemorrhagic stroke relatively recover faster than older patients. Patients who are not given any specific therapy may require weeks to months to recover.

It is seen that majority of improvements occur within first month of stroke and significant improvement continues to be seen during next three to six months. Some slow improvements are expected beyond the period of six months.