Golden Period for Stroke Recovery
Stroke is the most common neurological disease which requires best treatment for survival of the patient. Stroke can occur to anyone disrespect of the age. In India it is reported that around 2 billion people are suffering from stroke every year, which is very serious thing to be care of. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted or reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients. It may be caused by a blocked artery (called Ischemic Stroke) or leaking or bursting of a blood vessel (called Hemorrhagic Stroke).
Majority of Stroke cases are Ischemic Stroke and the recovery period is more compared to that of hemorrhagic stroke. For both strokes, rehabilitation is the most crucial part and requires an experienced team to handle post-stroke rehabilitation. Timely and effective post-stroke rehabilitation significantly helps patients regaining independence and improving quality of life.
Golden period of post-stroke rehabilitation:
After getting proper treatment during stroke attacks, golden period for post stroke rehab is within 3-6 months. This period of time is very crucial and important because most of the neurological recovery happens in this time. This is the reason that golden period plays significant role in recovery of the patient. With the help of rehabilitation patient will relearn the skills that are lost when part of the brain is damaged. Rehabilitation must begin as soon as possible to get maximum brain recovery. Rehabilitative therapy usually begins in the acute-care hospital after the patient’s overall condition has been stabilized after the stroke. Brain recover with faster recovery depends on the quality of rehabilitation provided to the patient, so it is important to provide timely and appropriate rehabilitation to the stroke patient.
If getting proper rehabilitation treatment in golden period of time, there is less chances of recurrent stroke, bed sores, aspirations, spasticity and infections. Also, majority of neurological effects can be reduced if rehabilitation starts in this golden period. With right rehab care, noticeable signs with improved functional outcomes in the activities can be seen that may also minimize the chances of issues like depression.
Our objective of post-stroke rehabilitation is to recover stroke patient as maximum as we can and make them relearn skills for their daily routines as well as live a normal life.
Primary steps of rehabilitation that needs to be followed within Golden Period are:
- Evaluation: It is important to the reason of stroke so that it will be prevented in the future to happen again. Risks like High blood pressure, Diabetes, obesity should be taken in account and to be checked for control the risk.
- Goal Setting: All rehabilitation teams including physicians, speech therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, physiotherapists and dieticians should work to set realistic and mutually agreeable goals.
- Regular Functional Ability Evaluation: Patient should be regularly evaluated to check the improvement or modify the care plan for better understanding of the situation. There should a customized care plan for all individuals as stroke affects differently in individuals.
- Delegation: After discharge from critical care, depending on the condition of patient, the next rehab process should be decided. It should also be advised to patient to take care of those risk factors for not happening the same again.
Before returning home, post-stroke rehabilitation routine should be created by rehab expert team rehabilitative equipment so that it will significantly help patients to successfully achieve stroke recovery goals.
