Neuroplasticity After Stroke: Definition and Principle of Work

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What Is Neuroplasticity After Stroke?

The word neuroplasticity is combined from two words: neuron and plasticity.

Neurons are the nerve cells in brain, and plasticity means that you can mold or reorganize something. Therefore, neuroplasticity refers to the process of reorganizing the neurons in brain. As an illustration, if the part of your brain responsible for motor control becomes damaged, it can lead to movement difficulties. After a stroke, certain parts of the brain can become damaged depending on the type of stroke and where it occurred and the functions that were once stored in those parts become impaired. Neuroplasticity allows patient’s brain to rewire functions from damaged areas of the brain over to new, healthy parts.

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The best way to activate Neuroplasticity is through repetitive practice. The more you repeat a specific task, the more your brain will rewire itself. Try to think of it as paving new roads in brain if you put down not enough asphalt, you will have road that erode quickly. However, if you repeat the process over and over, you will have a strong road that will last for a longer period of time. Try to think of it as paving new roads in brain. The same goes with patient’s stroke recovery exercises, the more patient practices an exercise, the stronger those new pathways in his/her brain become.

Here are some examples of stroke rehabilitation exercises:

  • Build and strengthen neural pathways while doing every day activities by switching the hand you use.
  • Flex a sense by restricting senses that you usually use to perform everyday tasks.
  • Performing multiple tasks simultaneously helps brain to create new neuronal connections.
  • Changing regular routines to create new neural pathways through new experiences.
  • Thinking increases the number of dendritic branches or neural pathways that link brain cells.

Here is another example: the program begins with a thirty minutes cardio exercise which raises patient’s heart rate. Cardio jump-starts his/her brain and heart, guaranteeing there is lots of oxygen available for the brain within the following therapy. This provokes what we call the post-exercise cognitive boost (PECB). Not only does body feel better, but with all the additional blood and energy available to the brain, the brain functions better. Therefore right after cardio is the perfect time to begin cognitive therapy.

Some rehabilitation exercises might be done through a BUSO ball as following:

  1. While on the BOSU, patient has to throw a ball back and forth with his therapist, an ever-moving, circling target, that activates areas involved in processes like visual tracking, visual search, hand-eye coordination, depth perception, and more. Finally, the exercise includes a memory recall aspect, for example naming fruits beginning with the letter A. The idea is to perform tasks that challenge the brain while also forcing multisensory systems to engage. This exercise activates a subcortical region of the brain and targets areas involved in visually assessing patient’s environment and maintaining balance.
  2. Stroke rehabilitation programs focus on different tasks and body parts depending on the abilities which stroke has affected. To illustrate leg and core exercises are done to help with patient’s gait and balance. Arm, hand and finger rehabilitation helps patients get back to their daily activities like dressing or moving objects. Shoulders exercises are also helpful to prevent pain and conditions like frozen shoulder.

How to know if neuroplasticity therapy works?

fNCI (functional neurocognitive imaging) is a type of functional MRI that shows blood flow in the brain. As brain activity results in extra blood flow to the activated region, fNCI is used to see if see if neuroplasticity therapy has helped. Patients do cognitive tasks during the scan and it can be seen if each brain area involved in completing that task is using extra oxygen.

In conclusion, stroke affects patients in different ways and neuroplasticity therapy is done on post-stroke survivors to help them get back to their daily life. This procedure happens through repetitive exercises that help brain make new pathways and rewire functions related to damaged brain regions to the healthy parts.

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