STROKE recovery with cinching good arm

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

This comes off the AP Wire and was posted to the Parcelsus Newsgroup. Im

wondering if it would be a great idea to restrain the good arm while on the

pRoshi and having the person do novel tasks. I worked with a fellow who had

a

stroke at age 53. He did very very well and the OTs and PTs couldnt figure

out

how come he was back walking within about 3weeks without a walker/cane or

anything when it normally takes many months to get there. I used pRoshi and

Scenar and it worked wonders. Now I wish I had restrained his good arm/leg

and had him do novel things with the effected limbs.

Cheers,

Marie

Stroke Victims May Regain Weak Arm Use

By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 22 minutes ago

As long as five years after suffering a stroke, people were able to regain

use

of a weak arm when their strong arm was restrained during two weeks of

intensive therapy, new research shows.

The study was small but is the best evidence yet that this simple and novel

treatment may help restore movement to hundreds of thousands of stroke

victims left with impaired limbs.

" Even if you are a long time after your stroke, there is a hope of gaining

recovery, " said study co-author Gitendra Uswatte, assistant professor of

psychology at University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Patients also retained the benefits of this brief treatment up to two years

afterward, according to the findings published Thursday in the American Hea

rt

Association's online journal Stroke.

It is the second study in two weeks to report success with constraint or

" forced use " therapy, in which a hand splint or sling is used to immobilize

the patient's good arm while intensive daily physical therapy is given to

strengthen the weak one.

The idea is to try to encourage the brain to rewire itself and send more

signals to the impaired area and help it recover.

Traditionally, doctors thought maximum recovery was reached within six mont

hs

to a year after a stroke. However, the new study suggests hope beyond that

point.

Researchers put 21 people with mild to moderate impairment in their arms ab

out

five years after surviving a stroke through constraint therapy for 10 days.

A

comparison group of 20 similar stroke survivors got a general exercise

program instead.

That group didn't significantly improve. However, the group forced to use t

he

weak arm improved at daily activities like holding a book, using a towel,

picking up a glass or brushing their teeth.

In some of the most dramatic cases, patients began using their affected arm

to

write again. Some patients would come to therapy with a hand or arm hanging

limply and by the end of the therapy be spontaneously gesturing, Uswatte

said.

" This wasn't months and months of treatment, this was 10 days of treatment,

"

said Dr. Milton of the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas

,

who had no role in the study.

The study's lead author, Taub, a psychology professor at the Univers

ity

of Alabama at Birmingham who pioneered constraint therapy, said there is a

" use it or lose it " phenomenon after a stroke — if a patient avoids using

an

impaired limb, it will gradually get even weaker.

" The important thing is to get the person doing it, once they do it they ge

t

better, " Taub said.

Doctors caution that such therapy should be done with a physical therapist.

And stroke patients shouldn't think the approach will help them " get back t

o

normal, " said Dr. Teraoka, medical director of the rehabilitation

unit at Stanford University Medical Center.

" Some patients get a fair amount of improvement and some get a little movem

ent

in their hand, " said Teraoka, who was not part of the study. " That's a far

cry

from being back to normal. "

Even so, he said, " I think constraint-induced therapy does work — this

validates the theory behind it all. "

___

Quoting schaustennis@...:

> Hi:

>

> Do you ever think of having any ROSHI meeting in the Midwest or east. Hau

ling

> out to California gets pretty expensive. I think it geographically limits

> prospective users as well.

>

> Thanks,

>

>

> Hal Schaus

>