Stroke Rehabilitation Centers: Stroke Rehabilitation: Common Stroke Disabilities

Have you or a loved recently suffered a stroke? Are you looking for information about stroke rehabilitation? Then this article is for you. This article will discuss common disabilities that can result from a stroke and stroke rehabilitation. This article will discuss paralysis or problems with motor control, sensory disturbances including pain, aphasia, problems with thinking and memory and emotional disturbances.

Paralysis and Paresis
Paralysis or loss of motor control is one of the most common disabilities that patients suffer from following a stroke. Partial paralysis, known as paresis or weakening of motor control, is also very common in stroke. Paralysis usually affects the side of the body opposite to the side of the brain on which the stroke occurred. Affected areas may include the arm, leg, face or, at times, the entire side of the body. Stroke patients affected by paralysis may have difficulties with regular activities such as grasping objects or walking. Stroke rehabilitation can benefit individuals suffering from paralysis. Stroke rehabilitation can teach these individuals how to restore use of muscles and carry out everyday activities.

Sensory Disturbances
Some stroke survivors lose the ability to feel pain, temperature, touch or even position. Sensory disturbances may also hinder the patient’s ability to recognize objects that they are holding and can even cause loss of awareness of the patient’s own limbs. Some patients also experience pain numbness and other odd sensations such as tingling and pricking in weakened or paralyzed limbs, a condition commonly known as paresthesia. Stroke rehabilitation can help patients regain the ability to feel pain and touch. Stroke rehabilitation can also help patients suffering from paresthesia, which is a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of a person’s skin.

Aphasia
Aphasia means a patient is having problems using or understanding language. At least one-quarter of all stroke survivors experience aphasia or other language impairments involving the ability to speak and write as well as the ability to understand spoken and written communication. A stroke-induced injury to any one of the brain’s language-control centers may severely impair the patient’s verbal communication. Aphasia varies in level of severity with the most severe condition known as global aphasia. Patients who experience global aphasia lose nearly all of their linguistic ability. Stroke rehabilitation can help patients understand language and communicate more effectively. The less severe the aphasia the more likely it is that stroke rehabilitation will be effective.

Memory and Thinking Problems
A stroke can also cause damage to the part of the brain responsible for learning, memory and awareness. Some stroke survivors have shortened attention span or experience severe deficits in short-term memory. Survivors may also lose the ability to make plans, learn new tasks, comprehend meaning and engage in other complex mental activities. Stroke rehabilitation can benefit individuals who suffer from memory or thought processing problems. Rehabilitation can retrain survivors to use parts of the brain that were affected by the stroke.

Emotional Disturbances
Many stroke survivors feel anxiety, fear, sadness, anger, frustration and a sense of grief for their mental and physical losses. Some of these disturbances and personality changes are a result of the physical effects of brain damage or they may be the patient’s natural response to the trauma of the stroke and the loss of function. Stroke rehabilitation can help survivors cope with these emotional disturbances by allowing them to overcome some of the physical and mental affects associated with the stroke.

Evangelical Accredited as a Primary Stroke Center
As a Primary Stroke Center, Evangelical demonstrates its commitment to excellence in stroke treatment. Certified Primary Stroke Centers offer 24/7 multidisciplinary care including emergency medicine, laboratory, radiology and neurosurgery consultation. Read more on NorthcentralPa.com

NYU Langone Experts Available to Discuss Causes, Treatment and Prevention …
Ira Rashbaum, MD, is professor of rehabilitation medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, and chief of the Rusk Stroke Rehab Medical Unit. Please contact Craig Andrews at 212-404-3511 or [email protected] to schedule an interview. Permalink to … Read more on Newswise (press release)