A stroke can leave alot of damage in its wake. Location is everything, determining which systems are affected, and what treatments are needed for recovery. You may have minimal damage, or be bedridden and paralyzed. You may be unable to talk, or diminished in your ability to think, reason and understand.
Let's look at a woman whose stroke left her cognitive abilities intact, but with some paralysis in her right arm and leg. This is called "hemiparesis". She suffered damage to her left brain, which controls muscle function for her right side.
She and her family decided to pursue physiotherapy and acupuncture.
Physiotherapy began within days of her stroke. This often brings swift initial results. Pace of recovery usually slows down after this initial burst, and further gain can be slow. But treatment should be continued in hopes of reclaiming as much lost ground as possible. Physical therapy, done daily, can increase muscle movement and repair brain damage.
She also chose acupuncture. This combination of treatment can help to relieve her pain and paralysis.
At one time acupuncture was quite unfamiliar in our culture, but over the last 30 years this has changed dramatically. More people are seeing the acupuncturist as they search for relief they haven't found within our medical system.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years. It involves a trained practitioner inserting tiny needles into the skin. This procedure is usually painless. The needles stimulate nerves and muscles, ease pain, and improve energy flow, or "qi" (pronounced "chee"). Twenty meridians (pathways) connect 2,000 acupuncture points. Each point has its own identity in relation to its location within the meridians.
Ideally, in the case of stroke, acupuncture should be done every day, though generally that is not possible. Two to three times a week is quite beneficial. A combination of traditional acupuncture and scalp acupuncture, which is based on neurological mapping of the brain, is frequently used. In this woman's case, her paralysis was treated with needles in the left side of her scalp, in sites relating to motor function of her right arm and leg.
This blend of physiotherapy and acupuncture helps repair brain and muscle damage. Acupuncture, if continued, can begin to correct the underlying problems that led to the stroke. It can relieve dizziness, head aches, high blood pressure, and other indicators of poor health. This could help to prevent another stroke in the future.
Visit Jody's website and blog at http://www.ncubator.ca and http://ncubator.ca/blogger