A Brief Outline Of Strokes
Strokes are also known as cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) or brain attacks. When you have a stroke the blood supply to a part of your brain is disrupted and stopped in a similar fashion to having a heart attack.
As your brain needs a constant blood flow this is a serious problem and unless the blood flow can be restarted to the area with a few hours, permanent damage may occur to it.
As the brain cannot fix damaged areas the first aim in the treatment of stroke is to keep the damage as small as possible. During stroke rehabilitation the brain is encouraged to bypass the affected area and so reduce your post stroke symptoms.
There are 2 main types of strokes. They are ischemic and haemorrhagic strokes.
Ischemic means not enough blood and in an ischemic stroke a clot blocks a small blood vessel. Blood does not flow past and the brain distal to the clot quickly starts to malfunction and soon to die. The clot may come from the heart or form in the small vessel itself.
Most strokes are ischemic in nature and the risk factors include blood vessel disease, smoking, hypertension and heart arrhythmias particularly atrial fibrillation.
Hemorrhagic is medical jargon for, if you like too much blood. Usually, hemorrhagic strokes are caused by a burst blood vessel leaking blood and damaging the immediate area. Roughly 25% of strokes are hemorrhagic and affect all ages from baby to pensioner.
The risk factors include hypertension, blood clotting disorders and weakness in the blood vessel wall leading to a balloon like effect called an aneurysm, that can pop.
Often after a stroke the initial problems such as with speech and movement start to improve after a few days to weeks. This is because brain cells that aren’t dead but have been damaged need time to recover. However this is only a small silver lining.
For better recovery you need months of rehabilitation involving physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and writing and reading practice if necessary.
In the past it was considered impossible for the brain to bypass damaged areas. This is incorrect and it is now recognised that with the correct stimulation the brain can bypass damaged areas and make new pathways for information to flow.
A steady flow of information to your brain and you responding to it is the way to get the best possible results for stroke rehabilitation. The whole thrust of rehabilitation is to boost your recovery and help the brain make new pathways. Much work is necessary but the results are usually worth it.
