Helping a Relative to Recover After a Stroke

A stroke can be one of the most debilitating instances in a person’s life and it can take a serious toll on the rest of their life. This has the potential to really impact how they perform their regular tasks, which can leave them feeling helpless. If you want to ease them on the road to recovery, then you can use the following tips.

Stay Positive

There are many outcomes of a stroke and not all of them can be accounted for at the outset. This is a tricky thing to diagnose, as it can impact every person in a slightly different way. There are many factors that can contribute to the recovery after a stroke, so it’s best to stay positive. While there may be some debilitating outcomes initially, these can often be lessened or improved over time.

Being positive throughout the process can help the person to feel like it’s possible to go back to normality. Without this support, they can become negative or demotivated. If they’re attending physical therapy in the wake of their stroke, then positivity and support can push them to recover well.

When relearning skills like walking or speaking, practice is very important. Keeping the motivation to practice high will often lead to some great results.

Make their Life Easier

Making adaptions to the home can be daunting, but this can also greatly improve their quality of life. Particularly for those that have suffered from a stroke, it’s important to adapt the home in a very specific way to suit their needs. For example, in a recent article Bathing Solutions highlighted the benefits that wet rooms can provide. These can be useful as the shower controls are positioned to be more easily accessed by the stronger side of the body after a stroke.

Certain adaptions can be useful in allowing a person with stroke damage to living more independently again. If they struggle with stairs or are worried about falling, then a banister and a panic button can allow them to face this. They can begin to push themselves to try to live in a more independent manner, without compromising on safety.

There are many companies that specialize in this kind of work, which could really help you in identifying the areas that you could improve.  Regaining confidence and independence is key for recovery.

Do Exercises with Them

As part of their recovery, your relative may have been given a number of exercises to do at home. With only small improvements each time they do them, it can be easy to fall out of the habit of this. These remedial exercises can often feel frustrating for people that had previously been fit. This is where you can help them out by doing the exercises with them.

Depending on the nature of the stroke, this may include working on fine motor skills or even just talking. These can often be more enjoyable with another person to work with them. These exercises are an important part of the recovery and shouldn’t be neglected.

If you notice that the relative is no longer participating in the exercises, then take the time to talk to them about this. By neglecting these, they may potentially be hindering their progress in the long term. You don’t have to lecture them about this, but you can motivate them to get back to achieving goals again.

If one of your relatives has been struggling with the aftermath of a stroke, you don’t have to feel helpless. You can use these tips to assist them with their recovery and push them to regain their independence. It’s a long process, but it’s very rewarding.