In a matter of seconds, a stroke can rob a person of their ability to move, talk and think normally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that nearly 795,000 people every year will have a stroke. If one of your parents has had a stroke, the best way to help is to get them into a short term rehabilitation center quickly to start the recovery. The sooner they begin a rigorous program of therapy, the more of their abilities they will recover.

Regaining What Was Lost

The stroke damaged cells in your parent's brain that controlled some of their basic functions. You'll typically see a loss in three areas:

  • Movement - They will be unable to move one side of their body. Depending on the severity of the stroke, the loss can range from not being able to move one side of their face to a loss of control of their entire side, including the arm and leg.
  • Speech - Loss of control over facial muscles as well as the mouth and tongue make speaking difficult. Damage to the speech centers in the brain may also make forming words challenging.
  • Thinking - Cognitive tasks such as problem solving may have been impacted by the stroke.

Therapy works to help your parent regain control over some of these functions by retraining the brain in different ways:

  • the brain may coordinate the use of undamaged cells to pick up the slack left by the ones affected by the stroke
  • the brain may adapt different areas to perform lost functions

Having your parent in a rehabilitation center allows them to focus on their recovery. The doctor will employ several of the following therapies to begin retraining and recovering the brain. 

Physical Therapy

This therapy is important in two ways:

  • It trains the body to use different muscles to move.
  • It prevents further damage from unused muscles atrophying.

The muscles themselves are not damaged. The brain connections that controlled those muscles are affected. Your parent will learn to move their body so that other brain connections will take over the muscle movement. The result may be a little different than before the stroke. For example, your parent may regain use of their leg, but have a shuffling kind of walk that wasn't there earlier.

While your parent is unable to move certain muscles, the muscle tissue will begin to shrink. This causes the muscles to pull in on themselves. You'll see this in your parent as a hand that closes in on itself or an elbow that stays bent and slowly becomes worse. Physical therapy stretches out these muscles and keeps them limber. Your parent will be given exercises that they can do to keep those muscles in good shape.

Speech Therapy

This therapist will teach your parent how to form words again. This can be a long processes spanning months or years. The level of therapy required depends on the severity of the stroke. The therapist may focus on helping your parent form words with a face, mouth and tongue that your parent can't quite control. In more serious cases, your parent will need to learn how to think of the words they need to use first, then form the words with their mouth. It's like learning how to speak all over again, but many stroke victims are successful. The key is getting started early and sticking with the therapy.

Occupational Therapy

This therapy helps your parent regain the skills to do normal daily tasks. When they can't control one arm and leg, getting out of bed or in and out of a chair can be difficult. Simple tasks such as picking something up from the floor or opening a jar can seem impossible. The therapist will introduce your parent to tools that will help them through the day. For example, a simple claw on the end of a rod lets them pick up objects and a rubber strap on a handle makes opening jars easier.

Recreational Therapy

This therapist will get your parent involved in a variety of activities from painting and sculpting to doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles. All of these exercise the brain and stimulate the problem-solving centers. As other areas of the brain take over, your parent's thinking will become clearer and they will be able to do more for themselves.

It's important that your parent begins retraining their mind and body early after the immediate danger of the stroke has passed. A rehabilitation center, like The Village At Morrisons Cove, will take care of your parent's daily needs to allow them to focus on recovery. This may be the best way to help your parent since it provides the location and services necessary to get their old life and functionality back.

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