Stroke Recovery: Navigating Physical and Occupational
Stroke Recovery: Navigating Physical and OccupationalTherapyOne of the first healthcare professionals you’ll meet after your stroke is a physical therapist or PT. The PT isoften joined by an occupational therapist or OT. Their job is to help you recover as much lost function aspossible. That sometimes involves relearning things that came naturally and easily before the stroke. Forexample, Lori Murphy had to relearn how to walk.“Amazingly enough I learned, maybe not so gracefully, but I was able to learn how to walk in two and ahalf weeks.”The PT helps with movement skills.“One of the first things that they are going to try to do is help the patients get to move independently.Meaning getting out of bed, being able to walk with, independently or with some sort of assistive deviceand being able to perform certain activities such as hygiene and personal care.”The OT’s focus is self-care skills such as feeding, grooming, bathing and dressing. Both OT and PTs canassist with improving fine motor skills such as picking up small objects. Doctors cannot predict how muchfunction will be regained after a stroke or how long it will take. The good news is that survivors can continue toregain function years after their strokes.“I strongly believe that the greater access a stroke survivor has to physical, occupational and speechtherapy the greater likelihood that they will recover function and have improvement in quality of life.”PT’S and OT’S do their work in a variety of rehabilitation settings. Where you receive your care will depend onthe severity of your challenges and how quickly you make progress in the days following your stroke.“In the rehab facilities, the goal is to get the stroke survivor back home. So, therapists work veryintensely with patients and provide them skills and training to help them achieve that goal. In the longterm facilities, sometimes referred to as Subacute Rehab Facilities or Skilled Nursing Homes, the goalis not so much to get the patients home as quickly as possible. We recognize the patients who go tothese facilities tend to have more severe strokes and it takes them a little bit longer to recover.”Rehabilitation can continue after a survivor goes home with the help of OT’s and PT’s who ideally haveexpertise in helping stroke survivors.“There are two types of therapy once a stroke survivor goes home. The first kind is called Home HealthTherapy where the therapist comes to the patient’s home and works with them there. The other type oftherapy available to patients is Outpatient Therapy where the patients go to a rehab facility working inan outpatient setting with a therapist.”Therapists typically suggest exercises for survivors to do on their own between visits.“I hear from survivors from time to time that they’re very frustrated that their recovery isn’t going as fastas they would like it to. The first thing I tell them is yes, that is to be expected. Despite all of ouradvances in modern medicine we still haven’t figured out how to make the brain heal faster.”Rehabilitation is very tiring work. It’s important to rest after therapy or any other activity. Even if you don’t feellike it, keep going with your therapy. Survivors and caregivers who are motivated and have a positive attitudetend to have better outcomes.This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.PRG50942B EN Stroke RecoveryNavigatingPhysicalAndOccupationalTherapy.pdf© The Wellness Network / American Heart AssociationPage 1 of 2Stroke Recovery: Navigating Physical and OccupationalTherapy“The more engaged the families are, the more involved the survivor is in the therapeutic process, thegreater the likelihood that they will recover and have a better quality of life not just at 3 months but alsoat 1 year and even at 5 years down the road.”After her husband, Reed’s, stroke, Mary Harris observed his therapy sessions, so she could help him usetechniques learned there, at home.“I think the way we look at it is that we’re partners and we’re in this together to get him back to be thebest that he can be.”Learn more about communication challenges and how to address them on Stroke Recovery: Common Speechand Communication Challenges.This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.PRG50942B EN Stroke RecoveryNavigatingPhysicalAndOccupationalTherapy.pdf© The Wellness Network / American Heart AssociationPage 2 of 2
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