Disability Wellbeing Focus – Stroke – Brinkley Physical Therapy

Disability Wellbeing Focus: Stroke

Suffering from a stroke is a brain injury that can immediately alter a person’s lifestyle and lead to long-lasting physical and cognitive problems. This wellbeing guide has been created to:

Educate stroke survivors and people who have not suffered a stroke

Offer guidance towards health, exercise and recovery

Improve the lives of stroke survivors with our resources

Q: What is a Stroke?

A: Blood supply to a part of the brain is disrupted, leading to brain injury.

There are 3 main types of stroke:

The majority of strokes are Ischemic strokes.This type of stroke happens when blood flow through the artery that supplies oxygen-rich blood to the brain becomes blocked.
A Hemorrhagic stroke happens when an artery in the brain leaks blood or ruptures. The leaked blood puts too much pressure on brain cells, which damages them.
A Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) sometimes called a “mini-stroke”. It is different from the major types of stroke because blood flow to the brain is blocked for only a short time, usually no more than 5 minutes.

Q: What are the symptoms of a Stroke?

A: You may have heard of the FAST acronym:

Face – the face may have dropped on 1 side, the person may not be able to smile, or their mouth or eye may have dropped.
Arms – the person with suspected stroke may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness in 1 arm.
Speech – their speech may be slurred or garbled, or the person may not be able to talk at all despite appearing to be awake; they may also have problems understanding what you’re saying to them.
Time – it’s time to dial 999 immediately if you see any of these signs or symptoms.

Q: What are the impairments following a stroke?

Disability varies depending on the severity the stroke had on the brain. Following a stroke, a person could be impaired by paralysis or problems controlling movement (commonly on one side), sensory disturbances including pain, problems using or understanding language, problems with thinking and memory and emotional disturbances.

Q: How do you recover from a Stroke?

The recovery journey usually starts in a local clinic or hospital. Some people recover from a stroke quickly, some people will always need ongoing treatment to continually recover. The recovery journey can be long term and fit in towards an adapted lifestyle.

Q: What therapy treatments would a stroke survivor enrol onto?

There are many different treatments for stroke survivors. These can be physical such as physiotherapy or exercise. Communication treatments such as speech and language therapy.