Health

A physiotherapist, Mrs Lola Jude, has advised stroke patients on the need for regular rehabilitation therapy to prevent further deformities.
She gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
According to her, patients need constant attention to prevent their bodies from becoming stiff.
She added that rehabilitation was the process of physical activities that get the patient back to normal life after the stroke incident.
Jude said that rehabilitation should start immediately a person had suffered a stroke, depending on the blood pressure of the patient.
She also advised that passive exercise should be done continually to remind the brain to send signals to the paralysed parts of the body.
“The body works on a principle of use it or lose it and muscle atrophy is the wasting away of muscle due to misuse.
“The person should be positioned properly on the bed to avoid deformities, depending on how bad the stroke is, the blood pressure should be stabilised to avoid an immediate re-occurrence,” she said.
The expert said that though recovery normally comes but the physiotherapist was needed to preserve the muscles for best recovery.
Jude stated that the job of the physiotherapist starts by teaching the patient proper breathing patterns.
“The limbs, ribs, shoulders and fingers are massaged and exercised using passive movements on both the affected and unaffected sides,” she said.
She said that while certain positions were encouraged for stroke patients, others were not discouraged.
She recommended that the patients’ hands should be placed behind their heads and a lot of pillows should be used to rightly position them, especially their shoulders.
She advised on the need for patients’ caretakers and family members to be taught some level of physiotherapy and stroke management techniques to complement expert efforts.
She called on patients to join group treatments and see psychologists to handle their emotional setbacks.