A stroke is a disruption in the normal blood supply to your brain that causes oxygen deprivation, cell death and permanent brain damage. The damage associated with a stroke can affect any part of your body, including your hands. With the help of an appropriate rehabilitation program, you may be able to overcome the effects of a stroke and regain at least some hand function.
Basics
Rehabilitation helps you recover from a stroke by helping you relearn skills formerly controlled by damaged areas of your brain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, or NINDS. Post-stroke rehab also helps you adjust your daily routine so you can compensate for the lingering effects of a stroke and still perform necessary tasks. Rehabilitation doesn't reverse brain damage, but it can help you significantly improve your quality of life and keep as much personal independence as possible under the circumstances.
Fine Motor Skills
The single most important component of a stroke rehabilitation program is the directed, repetitive practice of new or recovered skills, the NINDS notes. In the case of rehab for hand paralysis, this means the repeated practice of your fine motor skills, which give you the ability to manipulate your fingers and perform a wide variety of hand movements. To use these skills, you need to coordinate activity in your nerves, muscles and skeleton. Health professionals who can help you relearn this coordination include physical therapists, who help design and implement your rehabilitation plan, and occupational therapists, who help you apply your skills to work-related activities and everyday tasks.
Supervised Rehabilitation
Specific methods used to improve your fine motor skills include a technique called constraint-induced movement therapy and a glove-like device called a functional tone management, or FTM, device. In constraint-induced movement therapy, your physical therapist immobilizes your healthy arm in a sling and requires you to use your stroke-affected hand and arm repeatedly for two or three weeks. An FTM device lets you hold your hand in a useful position and helps you perform grasping and releasing motions.
Home Rehabilitation
You can also use a variety of exercises and activities to continue hand rehabilitation at home. They include squeezing a rubber ball, moving your affected fingers with a rubber band, making a fist and fanning your fingers out as far as possible. You can also practice using a peg board, try to shoot marbles into a box, focus your attention on moving one finger at a time and push your hand and fingers against your mattress while you're lying in bed. As with supervised rehabilitation, the effectiveness of these activities depends largely on regular, repeated practice.
Considerations
Initial rehabilitation typically begins within one or two days after you experience a stroke. The specific course of your rehab depends on the ways in which your stroke affects your whole body, as well as your hands. Gains in your fine motor skills usually happen slowly over time, and it may be months or years until you recover significant function. Ask your doctor for more information on appropriate rehabilitation options.
References
- PubMed Health: Stroke; June 15, 2010
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Post-Stroke Rehabilitation Fact Sheet; October 2008
- American Heart Association/American Stroke Association: Tips for Improving Fine Motor Skills; December 23, 2010
- American Heart Association/American Stroke Association: Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy; December 23, 2010
