Use the labels in the right column to find what you want. Or you can go thru them one by one, there are only 29,699 posts. Searching is done in the search box in upper left corner. I blog on anything to do with stroke. DO NOT DO ANYTHING SUGGESTED HERE AS I AM NOT MEDICALLY TRAINED, YOUR DOCTOR IS, LISTEN TO THEM. BUT I BET THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET YOU 100% RECOVERED. I DON'T EITHER BUT HAVE PLENTY OF QUESTIONS FOR YOUR DOCTOR TO ANSWER.
Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain!trillions and trillions of neuronsthatDIEeach day because there areNOeffective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.
What this blog is for:
My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
How to Open a Clenched Hand After Stroke from Flint Rehab
While this is wonderful information it still assumes you have some functioning brain cells that used to control your hand. I believe that that area in my brain is dead. So I'm fucked. I need dead brain rehab not this simplistic answer. Once again these are guidelines NOT protocols.
“How can I relax my stiff, clenched hand after stroke?”
We hear this question a lot, and there’s a lot of confusion around what works and what doesn’t work. So we’re clearing it all up today.
Because unfortunately, many treatments for stiff hands and curled fingers after stroke only treat the symptoms.
In this article, you’ll learn why that is and you’ll also learn the permanent treatment for stiff hands after stroke.
Let’s get to it.
The Cause of Clenched Hands After Stroke
Spasticity is the main culprit of stiff hands after stroke.
On the surface, spasticity seems like a problem with your muscles.
While that is partially true, the root cause of spasticity is brain-muscle miscommunication.
After stroke, your muscles get tense and tight because they cannot
receive signals from your brain like they once did before stroke. So
even though your brain is trying to tell your muscles to relax, your
muscles can’t hear that command.
Therefore, the permanent solution to regaining hand movement after stroke should address that communication.
Now, let’s dig deeper.
Temporary Treatment for Clenched Hands and Curled Fingers After Stroke
1. Botox
Botox isn’t just for wrinkles
Getting Botox injections (or other locally administered drugs or
medication) is a common treatment for spasticity, especially in the
hands – but it only fixes the symptom.
These medications work to relax your muscles. They don’t address your brain-muscle communication.
So if you get Botox treatments, you will need to keep getting
treatments when it wears off. Because since the root problem was not
addressed, it will continue to persist each time the Botox wears off.
2. Hand Splints
Hand splints can help open your hand and reduce the spasticity. They work by propping your hand open on something sturdy.
While they do not help you regain movement in your hand, they are useful for opening your hand back up.
3. Passive Stretching
Sporty man stretching forearm before gym workout. Fitness strong male athlete standing indoor warming up.
If you don’t have a hand splint, you can try using a basketball or other object to stretch your hand out on.
You can even use your leg to stretch your hand out on (although it’s not as “grippy”). Just don’t stretch to the point of pain!
Botox and stretching are temporary treatments, though. If you want
lasting results, then pay close attention to these next few parts.
Permanent Treatment for Clenched Hands
Neuroplasticity is how the brain rewires itself
To address the root problem, you need to fix your brain-muscle
communication, and you can do this by rewiring the connections in your
brain using neuroplasticity.
And the best way to engage neuroplasticity is through rehab exercise.
But not just any rehab exercise – it has to be very repetitive. The more you repeat your exercises, the stronger your brain-muscle communication becomes. To permanently treat spasticity, you need to retrain your brain how to control your hand muscles through repetitive rehab exercise.
By performing hand therapy exercises over and over and over, you can fix the communication between your brain and your muscles.
Then, after plenty of repetitive practice, the muscles in your hand will slowly learn to open and relax – for good.
Combine Botox with Exercise to Reduce Hand Spasticity
Some stroke survivors find that Botox helps motivate them to do their
rehab exercises since it would be too painful to do otherwise. We think
this is a great solution.
If you suffer from painfully clenched hands after stroke, you can
try doing both treatments at once: use Botox to relax your muscles, and
then use that relaxed freedom to do your rehab exercises.
Treating Really, Really Stiff Hands
Some stroke survivors have intense spasticity in their hand that has been left untreated for so long that they develop contractures. Contractures are painfully stiff muscles that are very hard to open.
In these cases, you can use hand splints to stretch out the affected
muscles. And if you don’t have any splints around, then you can stretch
out your hand on a basketball or table. Once you are able to stretch out the muscles – it’s important
not to stop. The only way to introduce movement back into the affected
muscles is with rehab exercises.
Stretching is the first step, exercise is the second step towards regaining movement in your hand.
And if you can’t move your affected hand, then you can still do rehab exercises! You just have to start with passive exercises where you assist yourself. Passive exercises still help retrain the brain.
Then, once you regain enough movement, you can perform active exercises to continue improving your hand function.
3 Steps to Open a Clenched Hand
So, in summary, there are 3 steps that you need to open up tight, clenched hands after stroke:
Use splints or other flat surfaces to stretch open your hand
After opening up your hand, practice passive exercises to start retraining your brain
After regaining some movement, practice active exercise to regain as much movement as possible
During your exercise, be sure to perform a high number of repetitions
in each session so that you can heal as quickly as possible.
Follow all of these steps and you should be able to relax your clenched hand after stroke.
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