Stroke Rehab at Home: Hand Therapy Exercises
Stroke Rehab at Home: Hand Therapy Exercises
More information: https://www.baystatehealth.org/news/2…
Michelle Kowalewski Lantaigne, Occupational Therapist at Baystate Rehabilitation Care, shares simple hand exercises you can do at home while recovering from a stroke.
Among the most common symptoms in the days and weeks after a stroke is a loss of dexterity in one or both hands and weakened handgrip. These changes are a result of disrupted connections between the brain and the muscles of the hand. Without a strong neural connection, simple movements, like fully straightening your fingers or grasping objects, can become difficult and daily tasks can be challenging if not impossible. These exercises aid recovery.
Michelle demonstrates exercises including:
1. Face Cloth Scrunch \u0026 Squeeze
2. Face Cloth Roll \u0026 Squeeze
3. Water Bottle Pick-Up
4. Put Away Groceries
5. Card Flipping
Learn more about rehabilitation services at Baystate Health: https://www.baystatehealth.org/servic…
Content
0.64 -> hello my name is michelle lante i'm an
3.199 -> occupational therapist with bay state
4.96 -> rehabilitation care in our springfield
7.2 -> office
8.32 -> today i'm here to tell you about some
10 -> exercises you can do after following a
11.599 -> stroke
12.799 -> if you have a stroke there are several
14.88 -> different things that happen to you that
16.96 -> impair your ability to use either an arm
19.52 -> or leg
20.56 -> and today we're focusing on your upper
22.16 -> body
23.359 -> now
24.32 -> if you have an arm or a hand that is
27.519 -> kind of moving but isn't too tight i'm
29.92 -> going to give you some exercises that
31.519 -> you can do to improve your function for
34.48 -> your daily living skills
37.04 -> the first exercise requires the use of a
39.76 -> face cloth
42.239 -> now if you're able to use your hand a
43.92 -> little bit i'm going to show you what
45.6 -> you can try to do at home
47.68 -> put your face cloth down onto the table
51.28 -> just like so
52.8 -> and put your hand on top of the face
54.32 -> cloth
56 -> what i want you to do next is scrunch up
59.039 -> that face cloth into your hand
60.719 -> completely
62.399 -> squeeze as hard as you can
65.119 -> and then push that face cloth open the
67.52 -> best of your ability
70.56 -> i want you to repeat this five times
73.92 -> the reason why we're doing this exercise
76.32 -> is to try to get your hand to wake up
78.159 -> and build some strength in that hand
80.24 -> and this is a great way to do that when
82 -> you're just starting to have some
83.36 -> abilities in your hand
85.439 -> keep doing that every day until it gets
88 -> much easier
90 -> if that is too easy for you
93.119 -> there are many other things you can
94.4 -> start doing
95.84 -> you can take this face cloth
98.479 -> and roll it up
102.479 -> once you roll it up put it into your
103.92 -> hand
104.88 -> and start squeezing it
107.28 -> now that's something you can do
109.28 -> with it just in the air
111.28 -> and to make it harder you can get it wet
113.36 -> and do it with water
116.479 -> now some people have more hand function
119.04 -> than this this is the basic thing that
120.799 -> we would start doing
122.64 -> other things that you can do at home to
124.399 -> build your hand strength and your arm
126.479 -> strength
127.439 -> are simple things that we do every day
129.92 -> take a water bottle
131.68 -> put your hand around it and pick it up
134.72 -> now if that is too hard to do especially
137.44 -> after having a stroke and you're working
138.56 -> on getting stronger
140.8 -> fill it up halfway instead of the full
142.8 -> leg and then try to pick it up and try
144.8 -> to bring it up to your mouth and take a
146.08 -> drink of water
148.239 -> do that five times so that's two
154.08 -> three
158.239 -> four
161.68 -> and five
163.519 -> good job
164.72 -> all right now a lot of the things we do
167.04 -> in occupational therapy focus on your
168.72 -> activities of daily living and that
170.72 -> means that we're focusing on things that
172.4 -> you do every day at home
174 -> so things like putting away groceries
175.84 -> folding laundry getting dressed those
178.319 -> are activities you do every day with
180.08 -> your hands
181.2 -> so at home to build some more strength
184.08 -> you can put away the groceries
186.159 -> grab some canned goods
188.08 -> and put them up on a shelf that's easy
190.239 -> for you to reach
191.92 -> to make it more challenging
193.76 -> reach overhead
195.44 -> and put it in an overhead cabinet
201.12 -> if you want to work on your fingers more
203.76 -> here's another activity you could do
206.239 -> at home
207.28 -> if you have a grab a deck of cards
210.799 -> hold it in your good hand and with the
212.64 -> hand that's affected from your stroke
214.64 -> take a single card
217.2 -> and flip it over one at a time
220.48 -> you can do this with a whole deck of
221.92 -> cards over and over
223.68 -> to work on the ability for you to pinch
226.799 -> and to grasp onto smaller things without
229.04 -> dropping them
231.44 -> when you get really good at this play a
233.599 -> game of cards with a loved one or you
235.04 -> can play solitaire at home
238 -> working on your hands doing your daily
239.92 -> activities
241.28 -> is what my job is as an occupational
243.04 -> therapist it's teaching you strategies
244.959 -> to do those things
246.319 -> to find out more about your care after
248.159 -> having a stroke please see
250.239 -> www.baystatehealth.org
254.64 -> thank you
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFMkDwNwv4g