Health Benefits Of Physical Therapy

Helps With Stroke Recovery

Physical therapy is one of the main treatments that help with stroke recovery. The exact form physical therapy takes will vary from patient to patient, and it depends on the effects the stroke had on their mobility and other areas of the brain. Stroke recovery will typically involve in-person physical therapy sessions along with an exercise regimen to be followed at home. Physical therapists may give patients stroke rehab exercises to strengthen both their body and mind. Instead of using normal strength training exercises, stroke rehab exercises focus on using repetition to rewire the brain and reteach patients to control their movements. The single most effective way to improve movement following a stroke is to engage in repetitive therapeutic exercises. If patients are struggling with leg or arm paralysis, their physical therapist might incorporate a therapy called constraint-induced movement therapy. During this therapy, the unaffected limb is constrained, which forces patients to use the paralyzed limb. Over time, their brain rewires connections and reteaches itself to use the paralyzed limb.

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