When a person that you care about has experienced a stroke, you cannot help but be concerned about their health and recovery from the potentially life-altering medical emergency. Once the immediate dangers of the stroke have passed, and your loved one is sure to survive the stroke, the next concern will be how to help them recover from the condition. Get to know some of the treatments and recovery options available to your loved one as they work to come back from their stroke and regain any physical and mental strength that may have been compromised. Once you have this knowledge, you will be better able to support and help your loved one on their journey towards stroke recovery.

Speech Therapy

One of the aspects of life that a stroke can affect to varying degrees is a person's ability to speak. If your loved one is having difficulty with speech after a stroke, there can be two causes for this issue. These causes are cognitive impairment or physical impairment.

If your loved one is struggling to speak as a result of the physical impairment of facial muscles, speech therapy can be an effective and useful treatment option. A speech therapist is trained to help people who have issues with oral motor functions. They will be able to work with your loved one to retrain their muscles to form words or to properly compensate for the loss of control of certain facial muscles.

The exercises performed are designed to isolate certain facial muscles and work them repeatedly until forming words and sounds is much easier than it was immediately following the stroke. The earlier in recovery this process is started the better so that your loved one can regain as much facial muscle function as possible.

Inpatient Rehabilitation Services

In addition to general speech therapy, your loved one will likely benefit a great deal from a temporary inpatient rehabilitation program immediately after their release from the hospital. Inpatient rehabilitation services will allow your loved one to get the most care and assistance in the shortest amount of time so that there is no delay in their recovery or treatments.

This is especially important with any form of physical impairment or weakness following a stroke. Many people experience motor function damage in at least one arm and leg following a stroke while others may experience trouble on both sides of the body. In order to regain as much strength and function, physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation must occur quickly and frequently.

In an inpatient rehabilitation facility, your loved one will be sure that they do not miss any treatments and that they get the best and most comprehensive rehabilitation care possible. They will have physical therapy daily, work with occupational therapists to help them be able to perform fine motor tasks, like using utensils, typing, writing, and other necessary skills to daily life and work. All of this will occur over a short period of time so that they are ready to continue their recovery and rehabilitation when they head home.

Now that you know more about recovering from a stroke, you can be there for your loved one and help them to regain much of their old self following their medical ordeal. For more information, contact the professionals at Gateway Rehabilitation Hospital.

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