中风后的生活:与痉挛共存并进行研究

及时行动是对抗中风后痉挛的关键. Researchers are trying to raise visibility of the condition to help people recognize it early.

改变人生的时刻

18岁时,索菲娅·邓普西中风了.

During a routine day in 2010, the then-college student felt ill and decided to stay home from class. 她当时的男朋友, 乔, 第二天早上没有她的消息, 所以他检查了她,发现她没有反应. She was rushed to the hospital where she remained unconscious for two weeks. When she woke, she had little control over her body – and little hope of recovery.

“Initially, the outlook was extremely negative,” 乔, now Sophia’s husband, says. “[The doctors] explained that there had been quite a lot of damage done to her brain and that those parts of the brain could never recover.”


Facing an uncertain future, Sophia left the hospital to continue her post-stroke journey. 当她适应新环境时, 其中一个让人衰弱的挑战出现了:痉挛, 或者肌肉僵硬和紧绷,1 that became severe enough to crack Sophia’s arm splint in half. 痉挛状态 can result from damage to areas of the brain and spinal cord – a possible consequence of stroke – that control muscle and stretch reflexes.2

索菲亚的护理计划, 与她的医疗保健提供者合作开发, 对她治疗痉挛有帮助吗, 反映控制中风后症状的重要性. 以及当前和潜在的研究策略, the future of post-stroke spasticity care is evolving – but there are still gaps in under站ing the condition and how to help people identify and tackle it.3


一致性和教育是关键

One area of need in spasticity research concerns the lack of a universal definition of the condition and therefore inconsistent disease-measuring,3 which makes finding the right care plan for people such as Sophia difficult. Dr. 加文·威廉姆斯, practicing physiotherapist and associate professor of physiotherapy rehabilitation, Epworth HealthCare和墨尔本大学, says he and his team have consolidated more than two dozen existing clinical practice guidelines – trying to bring consistency to approaching and administering post-stroke spasticity care.

阿列克谢·祖泽克博士.D.他是美国医学中心主任.S. 十博10bet国际网页版的医务部, says his team is working to address another gap in post-stroke spasticity research: the lack of awareness among stroke survivors and care partners that recovery from spasticity relies on prompt diagnosis and management.

因为痉挛进展缓慢, Zuzek says stroke survivors and their primary care providers can be more worried about the occurrence of another stroke or how the patient’s brain and blood vessels are working, 也就是脑血管健康. But Zuzek says it’s essential they also be aware that spasticity can severely limit functionality if not identified early – as Sophia has experienced. That’s why his team is focusing on equipping health care providers and patients with tools that promote spasticity education, ultimately helping them find the right care plan for them that helps combat the condition.

“[痉挛状态] is nothing really, really scary at the beginning; that’s the problem,” Zuzek says. “We need to better educate patients to get them into the right hands so they get the appropriate care.”


Zuzek emphasizes that early intervention for spasticity is integral because after a stroke, the brain learns how to operate without the parts that were damaged by the stroke. 但随着时间的推移,这可能会变得更加困难. He says evidence supports early intervention as beneficial to early stages of brain plasticity, or the brain’s ability to change in response to experience or injury.4


索菲亚接下来要做什么

在她中风十年后, 索菲亚会走路, 站, wash her hair and dress herself – daily activities that were not possible before investing time in physical therapy and other strategies. 除了日常工作之外, 索菲亚做的比她想象的要多, 包括继续和乔一起旅行.

“我们现在过得很好,”乔说. “I think we’ve been incredibly lucky that Sophia has come as far as she has.”