subject: Physical Activity Following Stroke [print this page] When the human brain undergoes stroke, its normal capability such as carrying out complex mental tasks (for example memory, language, perception) is hurt. Loss of blood flow to certain areas (ischemic stroke) cause local damage to the cells that are supposed to be receiving nutrients and oxygen and they undergo temporary or permanent atrophy.
Many patients who underwent stroke often have to deal with severe complications, both motor disabilities and cognitive impairments. Motor impairments can potentially lead to other complications including bed ulcers, cardiovascular diseases and more. Some of these motor disabilities can be limited with proper treatment and rehabilitation care.
One of the most common methods of rehabilitation after stroke is performing moderate guided physical activity, and many studies today try and define the most effective physical rehabilitation plan. A very surprising discovery found in one of the more recent studies was that physical activity following stroke not only improved the patient's motor capabilities, but also showed improvement in cognitive performance!
So far, approaches to cognitive rehabilitation were generally divided into two major aspects- restorative and compensatory. Restorative treatment focuses on re-establishing what was previously known. Compensatory rehabilitation focuses on learning new patterns of thinking.
Recently it has been found that physical activity can improve the restorative treatment. This current study also showed that exercise reduced the risk of cognitive decline not only after stroke but in healthy older people.
The study examined the performance of relatively moderate types of exercise such as walking, cycling, physical therapy and any other participation in sport. Study end-points were measured by the "Mini-Mental State Examination" (MMSE), which is a reliable tool for measuring mental capabilities when suspecting cognitive deterioration or dementia.
The suggested potential mechanisms that may explain why physical activity can improve cognitive performance after stroke are controversial. One theory is that exercise increases cognitive activity and information processing by increasing the arousal and wakefulness levels of the patient.
Another theory is that exercise reduces depressive symptoms, therefore leading to better cognitive performance. The second explanation was found to be more logical since the study showed that most patients who improved after stroke with physical activity had previous signs of anxiety or depression.
One more possible argument is that aerobic exercise increases cerebral blood flow thus enhances cognitive function. Regardless to these theories, This study concluded that moderate physical activity of approximately 30-45 minutes 3-4 times a week can indeed improve outcome of patients after stroke, bringing new hope for these patients.
