Why Does Hand Recovery Take So Long After Stroke?

[0:00]Why is hand function so difficult to regain after a stroke? And how can we speed up the process? Well, the answer to this lies in our anatomy and in a process called neuroplasticity, which I'm going to break down for you today. So we'll start with anatomy first. When we look at our body, our hands and our feet are the furthest parts away from our spinal cord and our brain. And this is important to realize because the signals that we use to move our muscles and interpret sensation have to travel along pathways from the body to the brain or the spinal cord and then back out to the body. To make this clearer, I'm going to give you a bite-sized anatomy lesson. Neurons or brain cells are made of three parts: the dendrites, the cell body or soma, and the axon. And these three parts are like a package center. They take information, process it, and then deliver an output, like movement or feeling sensation. The dendrites accept the package, the cell body processes it, and the axon is the delivery truck out to the body. But your package may be delayed or it may be delivered later in the day the farther out that you live from the packaging facility. So, to give an example, let's say someone has a stroke in the area of the brain that impacts right arm and hand movement. Well, it takes much longer for those signals to come from the brain and the spinal cord to the hand because it's so much further away from the center of our body. It's also important to remember that brain cells unfortunately are not able to regenerate or revive, meaning that when they're gone, they're gone. But there is good news. The cells that didn't die will then try to either create new pathways or enhance already existing pathways to take over the responsibilities of some of those brain cells that died. And this is a process called neuroplasticity, which is just a $10 word that describes our brain's ability to adapt and change. To get a better grasp on this concept, let me give you an example from my blog article, neuroplasticity, the best stroke recovery tool, which I will leave a link down in the description below. Imagine you're standing at a train station. And you're looking at your normal route when you realize that one of the trains you normally take is out of commission for the day. So instead, you look at other trains that are going to get you to the same destination. You're going to the same place, just via a different route. But this is also where recovery can become really frustrating. Those neuroplastic changes, those positive brain changes we're looking for in recovery, can take a while. And they also require repetition, intensity, and consistency to make those changes happen. And just because you might be doing things repetitively, intensely, and with consistency, doesn't always mean that you're going to see those changes immediately. But again, there is good news. Just because you may not be seeing those changes happen right away, doesn't mean that they're not happening. Unfortunately, we can't open up and peek inside our brains every time that we exercise or dress ourselves or play our favorite card game to see the positive changes that are happening. I tell my clients all the time, it's a brain thing, not an arm thing. Understanding some basic anatomy and these general principles of neuroplasticity can help to improve hand function among other things. And I hope that it will also give you some space to be patient with yourself, with your brain and your body as you continue to recover. Okay, I know that was a lot of information in a short amount of time, so thank you for sticking with me. I will plan to continue this conversation over the next couple of videos where I'll be showing you some evidence-based strategies that you can implement at home to work and improve your hand function. As always, I'm going to leave a link down in the description below to sign up for my email list, which gets you three free stroke recovery tips and motivational emails a week, as well as a copy of my free ebook, The Stroke Recovery Pocket Guide. Thank you all for watching. I'm so happy to have you here. I'll see you next time.