A Brief Outline Of Strokes

Strokes are also known as cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) or brain attacks. When you have a stroke the blood supply to a part of your brain is disrupted and stopped in a similar fashion to having a heart attack.

The flow of blood to your brain has to be restored fairly quickly or the result will be permanent damage, as your brain needs blood constantly.

As the brain cannot fix damaged areas the first aim in the treatment of stroke is to keep the damage as small as possible. During stroke rehabilitation the brain is encouraged to bypass the affected area and so reduce your post stroke symptoms.

There are 2 main types of strokes. They are ischemic and haemorrhagic strokes.

Ischemic is medical jargon for too little blood. During an ischemic stroke a clot that either comes from the heart or forms in a narrowed segment, blocks a small blood vessel. The resulting lack of blood means brain cells begin to be damaged.

It’s the commonest cause of strokes with around 75% of strokes classed as ischaemic strokes. The main risk factors are high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (damage and furring up of blood vessel walls), smoking and an irregular heartbeat.

Hemorrhagic is the opposite and means too much blood. A blood vessel bursts and this not only leaks blood out, which damages the area around the leak, but also reduces the amount flowing onwards. Hemorrhagic strokes account for about a quarter of the total and affect all ages.

The risk factors include hypertension, blood clotting disorders and weakness in the blood vessel wall leading to a balloon like effect called an aneurysm, that can pop.

In the early stages after a stroke, which means the first few weeks, your initial problems may start to improve quite quickly. This is down to malfunctioning brain cells at the edge of the dead area recovering. This is great but can be a false dawn as for most people several months of rehab are looming.

The best possible recovery after a stroke needs months of stroke rehabilitation, which includes physical and occupational therapy and often speech and language help as well.

Even as recently as 15 – 20 years ago it was thought that the brain was a static organ and that it was impossible for it to recover some function by making new pathways round dead areas. This has now been scientifically proven to be inaccurate. Stroke rehabilitation done at home and in hospital stimulates the brain and speeds recovery.

A steady flow of information to your brain and you responding to it is the way to get the best possible results for stroke rehabilitation. The whole thrust of rehabilitation is to boost your recovery and help the brain make new pathways. Much work is necessary but the results are usually worth it.

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