Articles

Stroke Information Made Simple

  • 10 Questions to Ask Your Doctor After A Stroke

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    Sometimes it can be hard to know the right questions to ask your doctor after having a stroke, especially if you’re dealing with brain fog and neuro fatigue. Use this list as a guide or print it out and take it with you to your next doctor’s appointment!

  • 7 Tips to Improve Neurofatigue

    Neurofatigue can be a bear to deal with, and it’s not like regular fatigue. It can be ongoing and cause both physical and mental exhaustion. It’s also really difficult to explain it to others who have never experienced it. People around you may say that you’re being “lazy” because you’ve been unable to get out of bed, but you know that’s not the case.

  • 5 Tools to Make Eating Easier

    As an occupational therapist, my goal is to help people be more independent and functional in everyday activities. One-sided weakness, decreased grip strength, dexterity issues, or manipulation issues can cause someone to have difficulty getting food from plate to mouth. Using adaptive equipment can make the process easier and less frustrating.

  • The Threefold Approach to Recovery

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    If we know anything about stroke recovery, it’s that every persons’ experience is different. Recovery is unique and requires problem-solving for the specific things you’re dealing with. Using the threefold approach to your recovery is the best way to ensure you’re able to do what you need to do while still making progress.

  • Your Biggest Superpower

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 5 min read

    Self-advocacy is one of the best things you can learn to do for yourself (or advocate for your loved one). It can also be one of the most difficult.

  • 6 Common Sleep Myths

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 4 min read

    Sleep disruption is one of those symptoms that often gets pushed aside in stroke recovery. It’s understandable. You’re likely dealing with a lot of changes and getting better sleep is the last thing on your mind. But getting better quality sleep can help you recover.

  • The Other Side

    • Published:
    • Category: Personal  
    • 5 min read

    I don’t usually write about personal stuff, but the past couple of months have been rough. My mom has had some significant health issues that I’ve alluded to in social media posts. I wanted to share my experience with you all from both the perspective of a daughter and a therapist.

  • BEFAST: How to Recognize a Stroke

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    A recent article published by the American Heart Association found that almost 30% of adults under 45 don’t know the 5 main symptoms of a stroke. May is National Stroke Awareness Month here in the United States.

  • Top 10 Modifiable Stroke Risk Factors

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 10 min read

    May is Stroke Awareness Month here in the U.S. Up to 80% of strokes are preventable with lifestyle changes: that’s a big number. Understanding the lifestyle factors you can change is the first step towards stroke prevention. If you’ve already survived a stroke, changing your lifestyle can help reduce the risk of a secondary stroke.

  • Managing Bowel and Bladder Problems

    Did you know that 28-79% of stroke survivors experience urinary incontinence? While different types of bladder and bowel dysfunction can occur post-stroke, incontinence specifically means that you have poor control of your bladder, your bowels, or both.

  • Returning to Work

    Returning to work after a stroke is a topic that I see mentioned a lot across social media. While the majority of strokes happen in people over the age of 65, strokes can and do happen to people of all ages. Per the CDC, 34% of people hospitalized for stroke were less than 65 years old in 2009.

  • Grief and Acceptance

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 4 min read

    I asked a couple of weeks ago on social media what questions survivors felt weren’t addressed enough during the rehab process. Several people mentioned how difficult it is to deal with role change, grief, and acceptance. These are all interrelated issues and deserve to be talked about.

  • Sex After Stroke

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 7 min read

    Talking about sex can sometimes be a taboo topic, so I wanted to clarify why I decided to write about it. Sex is something that often gets overlooked in the rehab process and by the time you get home, you likely won’t reach out to a healthcare professional to ask questions. It can be embarrassing to ask about sex and intimacy.

  • Why I Do What I Do

    • Published:
    • Category: Personal  
    • 4 min read

    Some of you may wonder why I publish weekly blog articles, create YouTube videos, email you tips, write books, treat via teletherapy, and create courses when I could be working a stable, 8-5 job somewhere.

  • The Simple Guide to Spasticity

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 5 min read

    What Is Spasticity? Spasticity is a type of abnormal, high muscle tone that is velocity-dependent. High muscle tone essentially means that there is significant tension and tightness in the muscle that makes it challenging to lengthen and stretch.

  • 4 Lessons From A Stroke Rehab Specialist Course

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 4 min read

    I spent 4 days in mid-February going through the intensive Certified Stroke Rehabilitation Specialist course. This is the only stroke-specific certification for Occupational and Physical Therapists in the U.S. My brain was filled to the brim with new information and I wanted to share some of it with you!

  • Why Did I Come In Here?

    Two-thirds of stroke survivors experience cognitive changes, according to a 2015 article in the Stroke Journal by Tiozzo and colleagues.

  • The Stroke Recovery Pocket Guide

    I’ve been working on this free eBook for the last three months and I’m so excited to finally be able to share it with you all!

  • Mind The Gap

    “Mind the gap” is a phrase often used in association with the London Underground railway. It’s a warning to passengers to not fall in the gap between the station floor and the train car floor.

  • Neuro-Fatigue & The 4 P's of Energy Conservation

    Neuro-fatigue is real and it’s different than regular fatigue.

  • 15 Tips to Reduce Falls at Home

    Up to 73% of survivors experience a fall one year after their stroke, according to a 2019 Cochrane Review. Falls can happen for a number of reasons after a stroke. You may be dealing with the fear of falling, dizziness, balance issues, decreased movement and strength, visual changes, cognitive issues, or fatigue.

  • 6 Exercises + 3 Activities to Improve Shoulder Strength

    Proximal stability for distal mobility. You’ve probably heard that one before. It means that the muscles closer to the body have to be strong and stable so that the muscles farther away from the body can move.

  • Podcast Interview: Don't Count Me Out

    • Published:
    • Category: Personal  
    • 1 min read

    I’m so excited and honored to share that I was recently a guest on an episode of the Don’t Count Me Out podcast.

  • The "S" Word

  • Healthcare is Broken.

    • Published:
    • Category: Personal  
    • 3 min read

    Around 795,000 Americans have a stroke each year. On average, that’s about one person every forty seconds.

  • An Effective and Free Way to Improve Hand Function

    The most commonly asked question I get from stroke survivors is what equipment or strategies most improve hand function. This week I decided to make a video in addition to this article.

  • Podcast Interview: Why Holistic Care is So Necessary

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 1 min read

    I’m so excited and honored to share that I was recently a guest on two podcast episodes of The Hand-in-Hand Show from Strokefocus.

  • Strategies for Anxiety & Panic After Stroke

    This week I created a video on strategies to deal with anxiety and panic attacks after a stroke. I share my mental health journey, describe how your body reacts to anxiety, and provide you with quick, actionable tips to better cope with both anxiety and panic attacks.

  • Neuroplasticity: The Best Stroke Recovery Tool

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    Neuroplasticity is a super science-y word with a pretty simple explanation. Let’s look at another quick Latin lesson.

  • Improve Outcomes with Mental Practice

    Mental practice, also known as motor imagery, has been used by athletes and musicians for years as a way to sharpen their skills. The technique has also been showing up in research on stroke rehabilitation.

  • Effects of Cerebellar Strokes

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    All right, folks, we’re going a little deeper today in the brain. Literally. The cerebellum is a small structure that sits at the back of the brain beneath the two hemispheres of the cerebrum. It may be small, but it’s really important.

  • The Basics of Hemorrhagic Strokes

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    Hemorrhagic strokes are the second most common type of stroke. They account for almost 13% of all strokes, according to the American Stroke Association (ASA).

  • The Basics of Ischemic Strokes

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 3 min read

    So we’ve been over the 4 Main Types of Strokes. Since ischemic strokes affect around 85% of stroke survivors, I thought it’d be helpful to go into a bit more detail.

  • The 4 Main Types of Strokes

    • Published:
    • Category: Education  
    • 2 min read

    One of the best things you can do as you work through recovery is to learn more about the type of stroke you had. How the stroke occurs and where in the brain it happens will determine what issues you might be dealing with.

  • Let Me Introduce Myself

    • Published:
    • Category: Personal  
    • 3 min read

    I’m Elyse, pronounced like I have “a lease” on this building. It’s nice to meet you! I’m a Chattanooga, Tennessee native (that’s southeast TN). I’m a huge book nerd and spent a lot of my childhood tucked away in my bedroom reading. I live with my husband, he’s a web developer/designer. We have an 11-year old mutt who is the best girl and a 13-year old cat, who is nothing but trouble. But I still love her.