How to Reduce Hand Spasticity at Home
About 30% of stroke survivors experience some kind of muscle spasticity after stroke according to Strokefoundation.org. Hand spasticity is an often case within that 30%. Thus it is important to know how can a person bring the effects to a minimum and eventually get rid of them.
Spasticity is an abnormal muscle tightness due to prolonged muscle contraction. Therefore, it prevents people from easily completing some daily routine activities and moves like switching channels with a remote control or grabbing things.
Spasticity can be treated with or without medicaments as well as surgically. In this article, we have gathered a few ways how one can reduce hand spasticity at home without using pills or surgeries.
Stretching
This is probably the quickest, most efficient, and easy-to-do way of working on simple cases of abnormal muscle tightness in your hands. Careful and phased daily stretching can cause miracles. Simply put what it does is warm-up and lengthen contracted muscles increasing muscle flexibility. Important note: do not rush with stretching to avoid muscle tissue tearing! Stretching should feel comfortable yet a little painful as you force your muscle back to normal operation. There are hundreds of stretching exercises available online for different muscle groups, find the ones that work for your specific case and do them 15-20 minutes daily. Here is a video of a few that will greatly benefit you!
Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapy aims to recover damaged functions and return a patient to a comfortable everyday life using a specific set of cognitive, physical, and interactive practices. The physical aspect of occupational therapy that a person can utilize at home involves both dynamic and static exercises. The idea is to forcefully make muscles move by contraction and expansion. Here are some exercises you can easily utilize at home at any time. Also, feel free to utilize cords and balls for grip exercises.
Electrostimulation
Hand muscle flexibility is obtained through a direct mechanical effect of the extensor stimulation. It works even in the cases of strong spasticity and is a great alternative to the options above yet is a little more costly. What happens is a muscle gets shocked with low voltage contracting it for a split second every few seconds for a few minutes. Ultimately this forces muscle to relax and increase plasticity.
Conclusion
We hope that this information has proven to be useful to you and only wish for the quickest recovery for you or your loved ones. Contact us if you have any questions and we will make sure to assist you in whatever you need. Also, check out our website.
Our SensoRehab complex utilizes all of the principles and exercises mentioned above allowing for stretching, exercising, and receiving tactile feedback (vibration) at the same time.