Just watched a couple of YouTubes that impressed me more than anybody else in the ‘stuff on YouTube’ stroke field including Tara and Elyse who’s both have good YouTube channels focused on physio therapies
This channel isn’t about physiotherapy
What it is about is understanding the brain and what is necessary for rehab. I watched two videos
The first one was a review of the ‘miracle brain drug’ that was part of the hanging upside down stuff that Andrew marr did - It was well argued from a position of knowledgeable conclusions based on sound principles and research.
The conclusion was ‘probably’ a waste of money but if you’re going to do it believe very strongly that it will help you and you might get some placebo effect!
So I watched another by the same neuropsychologist and it was a very good guide to the holistic approach to post-stroke capability development.
The first one I’m watched I had a little on central stroke pain but only to say that the claimed efficacy of the drug in trials was highly doubtful as the trials were very skewed to delivering a verdict in the self-interest of the producers
I would have pointed you to it if it had a more promising finding.
It does look like a more promising channel than most !
Could almost do with a tagging system for each one (if they are as good as they look) and useful ones being added to the library in here for the communities benefit ?
I just discovered that when I tried to access the video above through the forum (on mobile) I didn’t get any sound so I had to click the YouTube logo on the thumbnail and that opened it natively in YouTube and then I had sound
I Just watched part 2 and it is as valuable as part one
It’s a sort of basic 101 good sense & feel for the things we have to deal with post-stroke. She calls BDNF, which I used to talk about, just NF, but it’s the same hormone. I didn’t learn anything new, except that we have 2 immune systems; one in the brain, one in our body. She didn’t expand on that. Anyway, it’s a good primer.
I would argue that any orchestral violinist has a great rapport between their body/brain. They constantly refine and perfect every nuance in movements, mechanics, muscle-tone (called Tonus), as well as shape the sonic tone, interpretation and musical expression, and more (imagine playing by heart)… well my point is that if that is not plasticity, then I don’t know what is. I joke and say that I am not practicing my violin, I am practicing my body.
Now, the “repetition” we have to do with our daily exercises is still a poorly understood part of our recovery. I mean mindless repetition can just lead to a perfectioning of poor movements. A Mindful revisit is a better idea (than mindless repetition)… introducing variations on a theme better still ; it’s mind over matter. Be careful not to let a repetition become boring. Automating a movement, however, or repeating a movement until it becomes smooth, is a great goal to aim for.
Anyway, thanks for the recommendation. I rate a good working mood as one of the most important qualities post stroke one can cultivate,
ciao, ciao, Hope progress is good, Roland
What impressed me was that she put all of the bits that I felt need to be in the description of stroke life such as emotional and physical and the dimensions of time scales such as clearing up the damaged debris etc etc
I haven’t heard anybody else describe those components in one discussion.
And yes I agree with you about the “practising my body.” I have observed this in athletes of any persuasion for example figure skaters. you learn to skate and then not fall over and then economy of movement etc etc and the result is elegance
We’ve talked about these themes before although we probably have more discussion to be complete. Another way of saying it is all science becomes art and all art is science
I listened to the one regarding Thalamic stroke, then followed it up with one on Gabapentin. I found it very helpful as I want to ditch it for good but feared that would be giving up on my eyesight. She was spot on regarding side effects outweighing the benefits. (or benefit outweighing side effects). For me, it has been the former.
Then for an adult it ranges from 20mins to 50mins, depending.
Back in my early months post stroke I know I had the attention span of a 2 year old. 6 mins at something was pushing it Toddlers need variety to develop and hone their motor skills. Adults are no different. Children however will learn them a lot quicker as their neurons are growing and connecting along with them. Stroke brains are having to repair damaged neurons find/establish new pathways if they can.
I suppose you could say the repetition is theory, then the practical is learning how to utilise and manipulate that skill in other ways to your advantage in real life.
There’s no use learning to pick up a pen repeatedly with your stroke hand if you never do anything else with that skill, or heaven forbid, you revert back to using your non stroke hand outside of therapy sessions. So you’re right, repetition is certainly not enough!
Toddlers need variety to develop and hone their motor skills. Adults are no different. Children however will learn them a lot quicker as their neurons are growing and connecting along with them. Stroke brains are having to repair damaged neurons find/establish new pathways if they can.