Regaining Motor Skills: Post-Stroke Recovery And Rehabilitation

Motor skills can be regained after a stroke, and there are several ways to go about it. The first is repetitive exercises, which help the brain rewire itself and build new pathways. Fine motor control exercises (AROM) are also important, as they help improve fine motor skills and encourage the use of the affected hand. Finally, repetitive task-specific training can help improve coordination and the ability to perform functional tasks.

Repetitive exercises

• Therapy ball exercises: Squeezing or pinching a therapy ball is great for individuals who have hand weakness or struggle with clenched hands.
• Therapy putty exercises: Therapy putty is a hand rehabilitation tool used in occupational therapy. By manipulating the putty in various ways, you can give your hand a workout.
• MusicGlove hand therapy: MusicGlove is a high-tech home therapy system that incorporates gaming and music into hand exercises. It is clinically proven to improve hand function in just 2 weeks.
• Tabletop exercises: Tabletop exercises can be done with various household items like coins, paper clips, silverware or pens. For example, you can practice gripping a pen, sliding it across the table, and releasing it.
• Rubber band resistance: Rubber bands can be placed around your thumb and index finger and you can try to push the band apart.
• Learning to play a simple tune on the piano: Learning to play the piano can help develop your fine motor skills.
• Board games: Most board games require you to move a small object across the board, which can help you practice holding onto small objects and moving them in small increments.
• Shuffling a deck of cards: There are many ways to work on developing your fine motor skills with a deck of cards, including flipping each card over one by one, picking a card out of the middle of a deck, or standing the cards on end to make a house of cards.

Fine motor control exercises

• Therapy ball exercises: Squeezing or pinching a therapy ball can help strengthen finger flexors and improve hand weakness. For patients with severe spasticity, therapy balls can be used to stretch out tightened muscles by placing the hand and fingers around the ball.
• Therapy putty exercises: Therapy putty can be manipulated in various ways to exercise the hand. For example, wrapping the putty around the index finger and then extending it against resistance helps improve finger extension.
• MusicGlove hand therapy: This high-tech home therapy system incorporates gaming and music to make hand exercises more engaging. It has been clinically proven to improve hand function within two weeks.
• Tabletop exercises: Using household items like coins, paper clips, silverware, or pens for various exercises can help improve fine motor skills. For example, gripping and sliding a pen, spinning it in circles, or practising tracing and writing.
• Coin exercises: Flipping coins, stacking them, or adding them to therapy putty for added resistance are all simple and affordable fine motor activities.
• Rubber band resistance: Placing rubber bands around the thumb and index finger and trying to push them apart is a form of "resistance training" for the fingers.
• Learning to play the piano: Learning to play simple tunes on the piano can help develop fine motor skills and is a great hobby.
• Board games: Most board games involve manipulating small objects, rolling dice, pressing buttons, flipping cards, and spinning wheels, all of which help develop fine motor skills.
• Card exercises: Shuffling, flipping, and picking cards, as well as building a house of cards, are all great ways to improve grip and precision.

Repetitive task-specific training

The amount of task practice varies considerably across interventions. The number of hours of task practice was estimated to be less than 10 hours in six trials, between 10 and 21 hours in 16 trials, and more than 40 hours in four trials. The duration of training was between two and four weeks in 19 trials, between four and 12 weeks in eight trials, and between 12 and 20 weeks in four trials.

There is low- to moderate-quality evidence that RTT improves upper and lower limb function; improvements were sustained up to six months post-treatment. Further research should focus on the type and amount of training, including ways of measuring the number of repetitions actually performed by participants.

Board games

Furthermore, board games offer social benefits for stroke survivors. Playing games with others can improve social interaction and foster relationships, which is especially important for survivors who may experience social isolation due to their condition. Additionally, the social aspect of board games can improve the overall mood of survivors by providing an enjoyable activity and a sense of connection with others.

Some specific examples of board games that can aid in motor skill recovery after a stroke include:

• Connect 4: This game can improve attention and motor skills, as players pick up and drop small discs while tracking their pieces and those of their opponents.
• Battleship: This game is suitable for stroke survivors with speech or word retrieval problems, as it involves using simple words like "hit," "miss," and "sunk." It also helps with fine motor skills, as players insert pegs into the board.
• Scrabble: Scrabble involves a variety of skills, including simple math, cognitive flexibility, and grasp-and-release tasks, which can aid in improving motor skills.
• Guess Who?!: This game can help improve working memory and sustained attention, as players try to guess the character on their opponent's card by asking questions.
• Clue: A more complex game that can be used to fine-tune memory and attention skills, while also exercising reasoning and problem-solving abilities.

In conclusion, board games can be a fun and engaging way for stroke survivors to improve their motor skills, cognitive abilities, and social interactions. They provide an opportunity for repetitive practice, which is essential for stimulating the brain and promoting recovery.

Memory games

Word and Number Puzzles

Sudoku, word searches, and crossword puzzles are all excellent activities to boost problem-solving and memory skills. Crossword puzzles and word searches have been popular for a long time, while Sudoku involves filling in numbers in a grid, with each number only being used once.

Scrabble

Scrabble is a board game that requires high-level thinking and problem-solving skills. It can help enhance memory skills as the letters bring to mind words from memory. It also boosts fine motor skills as it requires using fingers to pick up and place tiles.

Jenga

Jenga is a game that can help with hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. It involves stacking wooden blocks to form a tower and then carefully removing individual blocks without collapsing the tower.

Card Games

Card games, such as Concentration, can increase concentration and memory. It involves placing cards facedown in rows and trying to find matching pairs. This helps exercise short-term memory and mathematical reasoning skills.

Matching Games

Matching games that use images and words written on cards can boost memory. Players match words on the cards to the correct images, which can include photos of familiar people or objects.

Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are excellent for exercising the brain and improving cognitive skills. They also enhance motor skills as they require grasping and releasing pieces, as well as hand-eye coordination when searching for where each piece fits.

Bop It

Bop It is a memory game that also involves physical reactions. It requires maneuvering parts of a hand-held instrument, helping to regain strength and movement.

Simon and Tap It

These memory games issue a short sequence that the player must follow, with the sequence growing longer after each successful round.

Video Games

Accessible video games can be incorporated into occupational therapy to improve the motor skills needed for daily activities. They can also enhance cognition and social interaction, especially games that involve multiple players. Video games can include adjustable features such as speed, loudness, and motor skill requirements to suit the player's needs.

Frequently asked questions