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When Muscles Won't Relax: Understanding Post-Stroke Spasticity
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State-of-the-Art Treatments for Post-Stroke Spasticity
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Rehabilitation After Stroke: What Can Be Done?
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Stroke Recovery: The Basics of Physical Rehabilitation
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Life After Stroke: Personal Perspectives
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TIA: A Warning Not to be Ignored
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Are You at Risk for a Stroke?
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What are the Warning Signs of a Stroke?
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Helping a Loved One Recover From a Stroke
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Caregiver Involvement in Post-Stroke Care
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Webcast Transcript
And so physicians who make analysis of muscles and movements often can find many things that can be done for the patient. So this is a great barrier. The barrier with respect to the understanding about the possibilities for rehabilitation.
MABEL JONG: Now, Dr. Esquenazi, are there patients who are suffering from this unnecessarily?
ALBERTO ESQUENAZI, MD: Oh, of course. There is no doubt that you can treat this in a way that the patients can feel much more comfortable, that they can have less impose less burden into their families and caretakers. This is something that is treatable, something that can easily be managed when it's done appropriately and where there are specific goals. And it's unfortunate that many patients after a stroke are dealt as individuals that have no further goals. The reality is that there is life after a stroke and there are things that can be done to improve them and make them feel more functional.
MABEL JONG: Now I had mentioned that this is an issue that is often overlooked among the many other problems that patients are facing after a stroke. Why is that?
NATHANIEL H. MAYER, MD: People are overwhelmed by the basic problems that they have. When you have a stroke, it often means that you have problems with blood vessels elsewhere in the body. These are life-threatening issues and therefore patients' complaints about their everyday lives may seem to be less significant. And from one perspective, it is less significant but when it's your pain on stretching, when it's your difficulty putting an arm into a sleeve, when it's your difficulty walking, that is a big deal.
MABEL JONG: If you treat this condition, does it help you overcome some of the other problems associated with stroke?
ALBERTO ESQUENAZI, MD: Well, I don't know if it helps you overcome some of the problems, but it certainly reduces the possibility of developing side effects or developing other complications. If you are walking on a foot that is turned in, or your nails start digging into your palm, you can develop skin breakdown and with that an infection that then is going to require treatment with antibiotic. And that can have it's own series of side effects. So you're trying to really act in or work in a proactive manner.
MABEL JONG: And Dr. Mayer, how do you determine what is best for a patient?
NATHANIEL H. MAYER, MD: A good history tells you 80 percent and then a physical examination gives you the other 15-20 percent. But physicians have the basic tools to ask these questions and to make the evaluations and if the general physician, the internist feels that some of these issues are beyond their knowledge, they can refer to a neurologist who specializes in treatments of spasticity or to a physiatrist, somebody who is in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation.
MABEL JONG: Dr. Mayer, Dr. Esquenazi, thanks for joining us today.
ALBERTO ESQUENAZI, MD: Thank you.
MABEL JONG: And thank you for watching our webcast. I'm Mabel Jong.
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