THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE IN THE TREATMENT OF POST-STROKE PATIENTS
Keywords:
stroke, hemiparesis, rehabilitation, assistive technology, robotic technology, exoskeleton, brain computer interfaces, neuroprosthesisAbstract
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. These can be divided into two main sub-types: ischemic and haemorrhagic. Both of these types lead to a starvation of brain cell’s inducing hypoxic-like damage or an increase in intracranial pressure resulting in intracranial hypertension associated with a loss of cognitive function amongst many other complications.
The Purpose of this research article is to provide an informed understanding on the effectiveness of a wide range of rehabilitative methods within medicine and how these methods can be applied in order to improve the status of post-stroke patients.
Materials and methods: A review of the available literature was conducted, including articles on the recovery of patients after stroke and possible physical interventions used in the rehabilitation of these patients, which revealed an impact on symptoms, functional deficits and functional activity. The search for scientific articles is realized in the database of Pub Med. Scientific articles were searched for results defining: stroke, epidemiology, risk factors, symptoms, severity of the disease, post-stroke care, stroke rehabilitation, neurorehabilitation, physiotherapy, robot assisted rehabilitation, robotic technology, assistive technology, exoskeleton, activities of daily living, Brain-computer interface (BCI), Electric stimulation, neuromuscular functional electrical stimulation (NMFES) motor imagery (MI), neurorehabilitation devices, Neuroprosthesis.
Results: In the conducted review of the literature we found articles that contain evidence of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation. The results indicated, from this stroke-suffering patients the symptoms such as headache, visual difficulty and confusion were swiftly corrected through the utilisation of rehabilitative techniques, in comparison to no implementation of any rehabilitation medicine. The duration of treatment was reduced significantly, however, more research needs to be undertaken in order to understand the pathophysiology in regards to the numbness and hemiparesis displayed by stroke patients so can provide a link that rehabilitative techniques do provide a more effective and concise way in which to treat post-stroke patients. The results achieved from this review proved that there does exist, nonetheless a positive relationship between the administration of these rehabilitative devices in the form of treatment and the shortening in recovery time taken for a post-stroke patient from the onset of stroke to the eradication of major and minor clinical signs and symptoms associated with stroke.
Conclusion: Overall, physical and rehabilitation medicine plays an integral and supportive part in the treatment of post-stroke patients. Through the various techniques and devices, we can establish a positive relationship in a shortened duration of recovery a patient suffering from stroke as opposed to stand-alone and conventional methods to treat stroke patients, however, more research needs to be undertook in order to provide innovation and to advance the field of physical and rehabilitative medicine and the role it plays within stroke medicine and related health disciplines
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