Brain tissue and motor function are damaged when you have a stroke. This can lead to paralysis or loss of muscle movement in your arms and legs, depending on what areas of the brain were deprived of oxygen. Another factor that can affect movement is pain in the part of the body that's affected by the stroke. Consult a physical therapist to set up a rehabilitation program after suffering from a stroke.
Physical Therapy
The Mayo Clinic recommends that a stroke victim seek therapy and rehab after suffering from a stroke. Consult a physical therapist after being in the hospital before starting any type of rehab or exercise after a stroke. The physical therapist can talk to you about your impairment and work with you to design a program with a timeline of rehab. She can give you various exercises that are typically basic in the beginning and advance in difficulty as you progress with motor function. Physical therapists can also help you with cognitive rehab for any brain function that was damaged during the stroke.
Strengthening
According to HandExercise.org, many strengthening exercises should be performed for at least five seconds per repetition. In some strengthening exercises, you squeeze a soft bean bag while resting your arm on the table to begin with, then progress to squeezing the bag with your arm elevated. According to Physicaltherapy.com, when in physical therapy you must progress through exercises and increase difficulty. An example of increasing difficulty would be that you may eventually be given a tennis ball to squeeze to give a harder resistance against your hand. According to Handexercise.org, applied force strength is important in hand strength exercises as well. To help with applied force strength, press your hand against a table or hard object and push while focusing on your hand muscles. These are a few examples of strength exercises; your physical therapist should be able to provide you with many more.
Flexibility
The hand should be flexible as well, which mainly derives from exercising the fingers. According to the Mayo Clinic, it may be very difficult to move your fingers outward after a stroke due to numbness. If you still have motor coordination with your fingers, you can practice some simple motions that help with finger control and flexibility. You can start by pressing your fingers flat on a table or hard object and rotate your wrist upward while keeping your fingers planted on the table. This stretches your fingers as if they were being extended. You can stretch your fingers in the opposite way by curling your fingers by forming a "claw" and bringing them inward and clasping your hand shut.
Grip and Wrist Strength
As a stroke patient progresses further with rehab, grip and wrist exercises can be very helpful. According to HandExercise.org, the wrist and forearm help strengthen hand movement and should be worked on as well. Perform wrist curls with very light weight or by using an elastic band to help wrist strength. Stand up and hold a weight in your hand or use a hand-grip dynamometer to help with your grip strength. This helps you handle objects in your hand such as pencils, and help you control the movements better.
Practical Exercises
Stroke victims are affected in every part of their life. If your hand functions have been hindered, it's affecting you outside of being able to move your hands easily. This affects eating, brushing your teeth, tying your shoes and writing. The American Society for Surgery of the Hand says that after suffering nerve damage, you should perform practical exercises that assist in problems you have in everyday life. An example is to practice the movements of taking a fork into food by pretending to poke or twirl it, then bringing it toward your mouth. A physical or occupational therapist can help you with any motor problem you have in your daily life and give exercises to help you with it.
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