After a stroke, survival is the first concern, followed by rehabilitation to regain lost skills. A team of healthcare professionals will help, and reducing the risk of a second stroke is important. Intensive care should start as soon as possible, and physical therapy should continue for as long as possible.
The time after a stroke can be very scary. There are no absolutes in stroke recovery. Approximately 700,000 people suffer from stroke each year and approximately two-thirds of these people will need rehabilitation services to recover.
Immediately after a stroke, doctors will work to stabilize your condition. Strokes are the third most common cause of death, so your survival is the first concern of medical personnel. Once your condition stabilizes, your medical team will immediately turn to rehabilitation. Strokes are the leading cause of long-term disability, and doctors recognize the importance of helping you regain as many lost and damaged skills as possible.
To help you recover after a stroke, your doctor will assemble a hand-picked rehabilitation team to directly address your health concerns. Some of the healthcare professionals who help in stroke recovery are physical and occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, rehabilitation nurses, psychologists, and social workers. These professionals work under the supervision of a doctor to help you recover after a stroke.
One of the main concerns your doctor may have for you after a stroke is the risk of another stroke. 25% of stroke sufferers will experience a second stroke within five years; nearly 15% will experience a second stroke in the same year. For this reason, your doctor must balance the importance of developing an aggressive rehabilitation plan and working with you to develop a lifestyle that reduces your risk of a second stroke.
The most important thing you can do to reduce your risk of a second stroke is, if you smoke, to quit. If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes, it’s important to get them under control. Obesity is another risk factor for a second stroke. Even if you’re not overweight, a sedentary lifestyle can also increase your risk of a second stroke.
While you are doing everything you can to reduce your risk of a second stroke, you will also start intensive care to recover from the first stroke. After a stroke it is important to start intensive care as soon as possible. If one side of the body is paralyzed by the stroke, passive exercise, in which a doctor moves the affected limbs, can slow the atrophy of the muscles while working to regain use of the affected areas. The longer you can continue physical therapy after a stroke, the more progress you will make. Even after progress slows down, the improvement will continue.
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