New research from the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care might be the next step toward helping stroke patients make a more complete recovery. Their new study indicates that individualized brain stimulation therapy helps those that have had a stroke regain speech more fully than other types of speech therapy have done in the past.
This therapy focuses on helping those suffering from aphasia, a speech disorder that can be common after a stroke occurs. About a third of those that have a stroke suffer from this condition, which can also impact language comprehension, reading, and writing.
Using a MEG scanner, scientists were able to target unusual electrical activity in a stroke patient’s brain and target therapy to help and resolve the anomaly. This resulted in greater speech recovery for those that had this individualized treatment. While previous research has also had similar results, this study was unique because of the stimulation factor. By sending this in a targeted manner to patients’ brains, results occurred more readily than in other studies. This shows great promise for the future of stroke care. It also has implications for dementia care as many dementia patients also have similar abnormal brain electrical patterns.
A stroke can be a devastating event, and not just for the person that experiences the medical side of things. Entire families are impacted when a stroke occurs, both because of the emotional toll that this can take, and the changes that need to occur in their household to ensure that the person recovering from a stroke has their needs taken care of.
When someone has a stroke, no matter what their physical needs are, support is going to be necessary moving forward. Not only can things like paralysis or other disabilities become present after a stroke, the likelihood of a stroke occurring again in the future is increased dramatically. Lifestyle changes will be necessary, and supervision can become more important than ever. No one wants to think that this is needed, but increased supervision for an elderly loved one that is recovering from a stroke can mean the difference between life and death if another major health event were to occur.
This is where the help of an in-home caregiver can be a huge blessing for a family. This type of care focuses on individual needs and attention, allowing the caregiver not only to become an expert on what your loved one needs, but also allowing them to become their friend in a way that other types of care don’t easily foster.
If you have questions, we’re here for you. We specialize in in-home care and would love to answer any questions you might have. Maybe you’re wondering why in-home care will be beneficial for your dad while he recovers from a stroke? We can help with that! Maybe you just want to figure out which type of care is going to be best for your unique situation. We can help with that, too! Give us a call to set up a free consultation and we will be more than happy to help you get started down the road of helping your family find the right care.
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