Are you aware of the issues that arise if you stop using your muscles after a stroke?
Two main issues can occur:
- The size of your muscles decreases and they also get weaker
- The connection between your brain and muscles is impaired
Both of these issues can be prevented, but if you have already started to notice it occurring, don’t worry, they’re also both reversible (with hard work!)
What is Muscle Atrophy?
Muscle atrophy essentially means that your muscles are smaller and weaker. This commonly occurs following a stroke as a result of hemiparesis or hemiplegia, which is the technical term for weakness or paralysis on one side of the body. This weakness/paralysis then makes movement much more difficult.
As a result of this movement impairment, the individual obviously moves less, and when the muscles aren’t being used as much, they can become smaller and weaker, and the technical term for this is, muscle atrophy.
This is the opposite of muscle hypertrophy which is when you increase your muscle size and strength through lifting weights. Muscle atrophy occurs when you fail to move your muscles enough for them to stay healthy.
Further Complications Following A Stroke
Very commonly following a stroke, the individual will also have issues with their swallowing. Unfortunately, this further magnifies the muscle atrophy issues mentioned above as now the individual is unable to get adequate nutrition into their body and instead, it uses muscle tissue as an energy source.
You may notice that many survivors lose weight following their stroke, the lack of movement, as well as lack of appropriate nutrition, causes the muscles to deteriorate rapidly.
Thankfully, lots can be done to reverse the effects of both of these issues.
So How Do We Fix Muscle Atrophy?
Your body is a remarkable machine and can adapt to stimulus very quickly. Atrophy can be reversed via increasing the regular rehabilitation exercises which increase muscular movement and resistance.
If the stroke survivor has suffered a large stroke, and now cannot move their muscles by themselves (hemiplegia) then passive rehabilitation is required to get the limbs moving again.
Although passive rehabilitation is nowhere near as effective as active rehabilitation, movement of the limbs keeps muscles subtle and slows the muscle atrophy cascade.
As the patient progressively improves, the individual can move through a structured rehabilitation program which slowly increases the resistance placed on the muscles, causing them to regain strength and size (hypertrophy)
Complications – Limb Neglect (Learned Non-use)
Strokes are very complex, and sometimes, complications such as limb neglect can occur. This can drastically reduce the likelihood of a recovery long term.
What this means is that following a stroke, a specific part of the brain is damaged and as a result, paralysis of the upper limb occurs.
The individual then completely avoids using this limb, causing muscle atrophy and muscle tightness to occur.
With appropriate rehabilitation and guidance by an expert physiotherapist, limb neglect can be avoided through a structured program of daily exercises.
But How Do I Treat Learned Non-use?
Even after an extended period of non-use, rehabilitation with a physiotherapist can reverse the effects of this.
One effective method of rehabilitation is called CIMT (constraint-induced movement therapy). During CIMT, the physiotherapist will take away the non-effected hand (often via constraints) and force the affected limb to perform all of the actions required for that particular activity.
This type of rehabilitation is on the upper-end of the scale and is only used in carefully chosen patients, however it is highly effective at placing regular, consistent loads on the upper limb – exactly what is required for rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation Is The Ultimate Answer
As a physiotherapist, I absolutely encourage all of my stroke patients to move all of their muscles as much as possible every single day.
Even if you cannot move your own muscles, then assisted movement can still help to reduce the chance of developing further complications.
At Concentric Rehabilitation Centre, we have structured rehabilitation programs which help immensely. We have developed a variety of programs that help both upper limb and lower limb atrophy and have state-of-the-art technology that will help you get the most out of your recovery.
If you would like to know more about the facility, please contact us on (02) 8799 6932 or pop in and see us at Concentric Rehabilitation Centre, 8 – 10 Clissold Street Ashfield.
Remember – there is hope following a stroke, it just requires hard work, persistence and a belief in neuroplasticity!