Stroke - Brain Attack

Hi everyone,hope everyone is doing great...and thank you very much for reading the blog...

Today let me share with you few common questions which I have been asked about "Stroke-A brain Attack" ,by the stroke survivor/a friend or a relative of a stroke survivor.

What is stroke?Is it curable?

Stroke in simple terms,It's the "Brain Attack or A Paralytic Attack"- Which occurs when the blood flow to the area of brain is compromised leading to the damage of brain tissues or brain cells due to lack of oxygen & glucose which is essential for any cell of the body to survive.

Stroke is the medical emergency so it needs to be diagnosed & treated as quickly as possible to minimize brain damage.

Early recognition & prompt access to the proper medical treatment & rehabilitation not only saves the life but also substantially improves the overall outcome of any stroke giving an individual a better quality of life.

Can Physiotherapy reverse cell damage?

My answer is no ,no one can reverse the cell damage but we can definitely aid overall functioning by means of targeted,task specific & goal-oriented rehabilitation by reinforcing more & more Neuroplasticity. [A small video on What is Neuroplasticity?-https://youtu.be/ELpfYCZa87g]

Reading this or hearing this next question which comes is ,

Then how physiotherapy will help me in my recovery?

Don't be disheartened, physiotherapy while working with neurological patients works on principle of neuroplasticity, that is we as a Neuro-physiotherapist helps the brain to rewire newer pathways and channels for different activities, movements, movement sequences- and all these by means of exercises, advice on body posture/positions in lying, sitting & standing,lifestyle modifications, environmental modifications.

Neuroplasticity & Recovering Brain

Why is it important to receive a good rehabilitation post stroke?

It's very very important to receive good rehabilitation ,as recovery after the stroke not only depends on site & size of the brain damage but also on how the brain has been fed by variety of stimuli in recovery phase in terms of not only the exercises but also on how your body posture is throughout  in lying, sitting and standing positions.

So see you in two weeks with few tips on how to position paralyzed/affected arm & leg plus how the body posture should be in order to help your own self in your very own recovery.

Tip of the day:
Have a positive attitude towards the stroke recovery,Reinforce every sign of recovery no matter how small it is to encourage

Neurophysiotherapist Dr Pratiksha Kapadia- 09769115267
pratiksha.kapadia.86@gmail.com

What is Neuro-physiotherapy?, How it works?,

Hello everyone,I'm Dr Pratiksha kapadia from Thane working as a Neuro-physiotherapist since last 8 years & many of the times people questions how a Neuro-physiotherapist is different & what do they do?

So, Neuro-physiotherapist deals with various neurological illnesses with the goal to achieve maximum possible functional Independence for an individual., Using the basic principles of -

1)Repetition, repetition & more repetition

2)Performing combination of various attentive & intentional movement patterns in different environment

3)Train an individual to achieve the goal ,by corrective or adaptive or maintainance treatment & movement streatagies.

So now let's talk about how each of the above mentioned principles work?

1)Repetition, repetition & more repetition

Repetition is the mother of all learning

When the neuronal pathways in brain are compromised due to any external injury(RTA-Road Traffic Accident,fall,head trauma,etc),or neurological illnesses (Stroke, Tumor, degenerative brain diseases, Parkinson's,etc) the way we behave to anything right from holding a cup of tea in hand to walk ,alters to different extent depending on where,when & how much damage has occurred to the brain cells.
So after such an event to the brain cells all or some of the activities of daily life we might have to re-learn,modify, & do simple to complex things putting conscious effort to it. And as we all know even for a person with healthy brain a lot of practice can only make him do any function at automatic level,so here we are dealing with damaged neuronal pathways.

So repetition or more & more practice of a new learned movement is must & very very important for the faster recovery

2)Performing combination of various attentive & intentional movement patterns in different environment.

Often my patients asks me how come they perform better during the physiotherapy sessions but not at home or office.

And my answers to them comes with a simple question how much attention they could pay to themselves?

So we , Neuro-physiotherapist work in different environment (at home,at office,on the street,at crowded place)with the patients just to make them more attentive about themselves & perform the intentional movement., which in turn boost the patients moral & confidence.

3)Train an individual to achieve the goal ,by corrective or adaptive or maintainance treatment & movement streatagies.

Depending upon the area of injury few of the neurological defecits are correctible or sometimes if the defecits are not fully correctible then as a rehabilitation professional we teach our patients the modified ways by adaptive & maintenance treatment strategies , which varies greatly person to person.
So in summary Neuro-physiotherapist designs the individualized & personalized treatment protocol for each patients.

So,for anyone who is in need of neurophysiotherapy or any queries/ suggestions regarding the same feel free to contact - pratiksha.kapadia.86@gmail.com

Keep reading my upcoming blogs about Hemiplegia (paralysis),facial paralysis & many more...