Stroke Rehabilitation
How can a physiatrist help those who've had a stroke or neurological injury?
Neurological injuries, such as a stroke or a spinal cord injury, often lead to physical weaknesses. A stoke on one side of the brain can cause weakness on the opposite side of the body that impairs your ability to sit up, your ability to move your body from side to side in the bed, your ability to stand up, your ability to walk. It can interfere with your ability to take care of yourself completely or not at all. But a physiatrist would evaluate you after you've had a stroke or a spinal cord injure, some sort of a neurological injury, determine exactly what your specific physical limitations are, determine what the goals would be for you to accomplish, and then help you obtain those goals. Or if they recognize that those goals will not be accomplished, then design a therapy program to help you compensate for those. If your not able to walk in the way that you once were after you've had a stroke, there are other ways that you could walk with help or equipment, and a physiatrist would manage all of those issues for you.
