It is feasible to stimulate recovery after a stroke using sensory input to the brain – that is one potential path to treating hand paralysis. Sensory stimulation to the brain takes many forms: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and proprioception (shared sense of position). The term sensory refers to the best way the brain receives information from the skin world.

Losing hand function could be very frustrating after a stroke. When there may be little or no movement in your hand, it could seem difficult to start recovery. Nonetheless, there are still ways to stimulate the cerebral cortex and start recovery, even with assistance flabby hand. Using sensory stimulation in a hand-like manner can stimulate the a part of the cortex that coordinates hand use.

Recovering from hand paralysis

After a major stroke, hemiparesis is typical, often including hand paralysis. For larger movements, when there are such a lot of deficiencies to give attention to during rehabilitation, less time is usually dedicated to the hand, especially when it initially shows little or no ability to maneuver. Sometimes it is simple to assume that there isn’t a hope of regaining movement in your hand.

Keep in mind that there may be all the time the opportunity of stimulating the cerebral cortex and making it stronger neuroplasticity. Adding sensory stimulation to exercise or every day activities might help induce neuroplasticity.

Mirror therapy is a option to engage the cerebral cortex by providing sensory stimulation to those parts of the brain through visual cues. Typically, mirror therapy involves using a table mirror to reflect a functional hand rather than the affected hand. (See the photo at the highest of this post.) This creates the illusion that each hands are moving and tricks the brain into pondering that the affected hand is working properly. Though you logically comprehend it’s only a rebound, it still helps activate neural processes and starts the brain remodeling through the means of neuroplasticity.

Adding sensory stimulation

Music therapy is one other option to stimulate neuroplasticity by engaging the senses. The advantages of music in rehabilitation are wide and varied. Auditory stimulation used during music therapy might help prepare the brain to anticipate movement. But as well as, music has an emotional impact that may influence physiological changes heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension.

In a single application, we would love to share a story about how a person used the concepts of mirror therapy with music to attain powerful results. Margaret, a post-rehabilitation exercise specialist, tells her story of using mirror therapy in an interestingly modified option to help her husband regain among the muscle activity in his hands. She initially purchased Flint Rehab’s MusicGlove for at-home hand therapy. She then used the MusicGlove to assist her husband regain hand function by combining it with mirror therapy – with a surprise.

Treatment of hand paralysis using the Margaret method

Please do not forget that that is an anecdotal account and can’t be extrapolated to all circumstances. Nonetheless, we’ve got included links to clinical studies that support the essential principles of this hand recovery method so that you may consider tips on how to apply these principles to your unique needs.

The next describes the approach she took to treating her husband’s hand paralysis. We hope it will encourage you to recuperate again.

Use mirror therapy otherwise

Margaret applied the principles of mirror therapy to the treatment of hand paralysis, but replaced the visual cue of the mirror with auditory and proprioceptive stimulation of the functional hand.

She placed the MusicGlove on her husband’s good hand and told him to practice with the MusicGlove normally. Meanwhile, she helped his bad hand mirror his movements.

She would not move his hand towards the sport; she moved his damaged hand to match exactly what his opposite hand was doing. So if he missed a note, she missed a note.

This reflective and passive movement, together with the music and proprioceptive input to his cerebral cortex, helped remodel her husband’s brain.

Due to this unique therapy, he went from completely limp to convulsing! Anyone who has struggled with paralysis knows what a major and noteworthy sign of recovery this amount of movement is.

Margaret’s husband has noticed remarkable results with the MusicGlove since the device uses a high variety of repetitions. In truth, the typical user achieves tons of of repetitions per session.

Discover a option to make our free hand therapy workbook more interesting and sensory stimulating and you’ll make progress.

Don’t quit

Your results may appear slowly at first – almost painstakingly. Attempt to be as patient with yourself as you possibly can. But you might be reprogramming your brain. It’s a fancy process that takes time and labor.

Trust the means of treating hand paralysis and know that although the outcomes are usually not immediately visible, your brain is tough at work attempting to make something occur.

Signs of recovery from hand paralysis

Every recovery is different, so everyone will see results at different rates. Margaret’s husband noticed seizures after only a number of weeks of this combined sensory exercise.

Although twitches are small movements, they make a giant difference to someone recovering from hand paralysis. Even when the prognosis is grim, there may be all the time hope for recovery.