If your loved one has even a small amount of movement in their hand that was a affected by their stroke it is important to constantly encourage that movement. Heard the phrase, “If you don’t use it, you lose it”? Well, It Is True! Although your number one resource would be to consult an occupational therapist, but there are many things YOU can do to encourage coordination and movement.
If you are in the hospital or rehab setting, ask your therapist for activities you can do with your loved one after therapy or when you come to visit. Typically therapists only get 30 minutes to 90 minutes a day of therapy depending on the insurance, so make sure you are doing as much as you can in addition to the therapy!
If you are beyond the therapy, no worries. Keep encouraging use of the hand with these tips!
Repeating Simple Tasks
Have a deck of cards? No? GET ONE. They are not expensive and you can come up with so many games or tasks to do with them! Use the bad hand to:
- Flip cards over from face down to face up.
- Place the Aces in 4 piles and ask them to sort the cards by suit.
- Hand the cards from bad hand to good hand.
- Have them hand you cards from across the table.
No cards yet? No problem. Following directions such as Open/Close and Palm Up/Palm Down are simple ways to encourage movement. If they have mastered those, you can even attempt to pick up small objects (like paperclips or pennies) and release them. Mastered that? Ask them to place the items in specific places such as in your hand or in a bowl.
Making sure that if they are making uncomfortable faces or complaining, that you tell them they should take a break or stop. Although the task may not seem difficult, their muscles are not as progressed as yours and they will get tired much quicker than normal.
Encouraging Activities
This can mean completing the tasks with the bad hand if they are up to it, but it can also mean simply using the good hand to participate in board games or BINGO so they are still getting to play! Can you imagine losing the ability to use one of your hands?! It would be so frustrating! Making sure that they have opportunities for games and activities with others is crucial for decreasing risk for depression. For stroke rehab there are a lot of ups and down so making sure they are enjoying family, friends, and activities is crucial.
Looking For More?
Seek out an occupational therapist, talk to your insurance company to see what they will cover!
But you need to know… this post is relevant for those with some movement happening in the hand. Unfortunately, there are some individuals that never regain any movement and then you will want to explore the need for a brace or splint to keep the hand from becoming contracted or hanging where is may get injured. If you are one of the lucky ones and you’ve still got it, then don’t stop moving!
The information you need…Straight Up!