STROKE REHABILITATION

Whether your goals are to move easier from your wheelchair to the bed, walk without a gait aid, or learn to run, our therapists can help devise a plan based on your mobility goals.

Through comprehensive movement analysis, our therapists can help facilitate normal movement and motor recovery and work collaboratively with you and your other healthcare providers to help you achieve your goals.

A stroke is a non-traumatic brain injury that can have devastating physical consequences to an individual. These can include weakness, fatigue, sensory deficits, balance problems and difficulties with walking.

Recovery can greatly depend on where and what type of stroke you have had. A physiotherapist with training in the specialty area of neurology can help you recover from stroke by creating a personalized stroke rehabilitation program.

STROKE PHYSIOTHERAPY

A physiotherapist with training in the specialty area of neurology can create a personalized stroke rehabilitation program that can help you in the following ways:

Strength
Often after a stroke, one sided weakness in the upper and lower extremities is common. A physiotherapist can help assess your current level of motor recovery and provide the appropriate treatment strategies to facilitate return of normal movement.

Endurance
Whether from the stroke itself, or from disuse due to hospital stay, decreased endurance is often reported in clients recovering from stroke. Physiotherapists will assess your current aerobic level and develop a conditioning program that best meets your needs considering your goals and any other conditions that may affect your endurance.

Balance
Balance is affected by several different components including your vision, strength, sensation, and vestibular system. All these areas can be affected by a stroke. Your physiotherapist can help target which systems have been affected and develop appropriate treatment based on the areas of need.

Mobility
Your physiotherapist will work to help you optimize your independence while moving in your environment. This can involve anything from moving from a wheelchair to a bed safely, trying different mobility aids to find one that works for you, or walking safely and independently in your community. Your physiotherapist will help you find ways to optimize the quality and efficiency in how you are moving and walking.

Education
A physiotherapist will provide you with education on how to develop and sustain a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, healthy behaviours and stress management.

MASSAGE THERAPY FOR STROKE

Massage therapy is a therapeutic technique that promotes healing of muscle and other soft tissues by applying force to the tissues. This can be done through palpation, rolling, kneading, rubbing or pressing in combination with other techniques such as:

• gentle stroking along the length of the muscle,
• kneading and lifting the tissue or
• using circular motions of the thumb or fingertips to apply deep pressure.

Learn more about massage therapy for stroke recovery addresses paralysis or weakness, spasticity, pain, anxiety and stress.