Stroke rehabilitation exercises at Circle Rehabilitation

At Circle Rehabilitation, we can help you regain movement and function in a safe way. We can accelerate your post-stroke recovery and give you the tools to reduce the risk of injury and further strokes.

Circle Rehabilitation, Birmingham is ideally placed in the West Midlands for people in Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Stoke, Shrewsbury, Worcester and beyond. 

We offer residential facilities, so we are poised to help patients from across the UK. Our rehabilitation programmes are medically-led - your care and rehabilitation is overseen by one of our specialist rehabilitation consultants and physicians.

Physical difficulties and loss of normal function are among the most common effects of strokes. Our multidisciplinary team can put together a bespoke rehabilitation programme to help with any issues you may have and improve your post-stroke abilities.

A stroke happens when blood is cut off to part of your brain. Depending on the area(s) of your brain affected, you may experience:

Difficulty with balance

Your ability to balance involves a number of the systems in your body working together. A stroke has the potential to cause dysfunction in the ability of these systems to coordinate with one another.

Difficulty with movement

It is common for stroke patients to experience varying difficulty with movement. This can be caused by muscle weakness or by contraction/spasm of muscles and can vary in severity and scope.

Difficulty with swallowing

In strokes where the brain stem is affected, a loss in swallowing function is common. Cerebral strokes can also result in swallowing difficulties.

Our physiotherapists have a number of ways to help restore your balance, a common physical problem experienced by stroke patients. Often this involves a lot of practice of simple exercises, such as standing with or without assistance. These exercises will be carried out in a way that ensures your safety at all times.

As you progress, you may use the Biodex Balance System SD, specialist equipment that helps to increase balance and agility in a safe and effective way.

A reduction in your ability to move safely can have a real impact on your capacity for independent living, so our physiotherapist and occupational therapist will work to help restore and/or re-learn your ability to move safely.

Treadmills

We have a number of specialist treadmills – including the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill and the Hydro Physio – that provide you with a safe way to regain muscle strength and increase confidence when standing and moving.

Mirror therapy

A stroke will often leave weakness, partial or temporal paralysis in one side of the body. With mirror therapy, a mirror is placed between the arms or legs of a patient. The reflected image of a moving limb can stimulate different parts of the brain, encouraging the brain to re-learn how to move the affected limb.

Mobility aids

From walking sticks and quad sticks to walking frames and wheelchairs, we have a comprehensive range of aids to assist you as you learn to safely mobilise again. Under expert guidance, you will gradually increase the distance you are able to move using a mobility aid.

Regaining as much function as possible for language, speech and swallowing is so important after a stroke, and the priority for our speech and language therapists is to optimise your ability to communicate and to swallow safely

Exercises to aid swallowing

You may be taught different techniques to assist swallowing, such as moving your head into a different position to usual. If you are having difficulty eating certain foods, you will be given advice about the types of food that are easier to swallow, which types of food to avoid as well as what you should do if you start choking.

Exercises to aid language and communication

You may need to practice saying specific words and making certain sounds. Exercises to strengthen the muscles in your mouth will be explained as well as advice in how to use your tongue, lips, jaw and facial muscles in order to produce specific sounds.

Everything we do – whether with our state-of-the-art equipment and technology or through focused individual time with one of our physiotherapists – is directed to giving you back your independence as fully and as quickly as possible.

If you are struggling to regain your independence or confidence after a stroke, why not seek help from the very best specialists, in the very finest purpose-built rehabilitation centre and with the very best possible care?