After a stroke, your muscles will most likely move synergistically.  You’ll have synergistic movement.  Synergistic movement means multiple muscles will move at the same time.  Sometimes, this is a normal thing.  Not after a stroke.  When something happens to the brain, you’ll most likely experience a flexion synergy on the damaged side of the body.  In a flexion synergy, everything kind of curls up.   Extension synergies can occur too, but flexion synergies are much more common.  In an extension synergy, everything straightens.  I had a flexion synergy on the right side of my body.  I really, really noticed it when I would try to walk.   I hated it.  I would attempt to walk and my upper body got all involved.  The upper body should be involved a little bit but not this much.  My shoulder came up, my elbow bent, my wrist curled.  I hated A LOT of stuff, but I really hated that.  It doesn’t happen at all anymore.  My point in talking about this is to tell you that you have to stretch, and stretch frequently.  If you have a synergy, certain muscles are going to be frequently contracted and shortened.  They have to be stretched out.  If you don’t keep your muscles stretched and at a normal length, bad things will happen.  Here are some videos that demonstrate some stretches well.  At ALL times, you should have good posture, your back should be straight.  Remember when you were little doing a hamstring stretch and you were told to try to touch your toes?  NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Shoulder and shoulder  All of these shoulder exercises can be done laying down.  Proper hamstring stretch, calf muscle, bicep muscle

Categories: Health, Rehab, Stroke stuff

Tags: cerebellar stroke, Hamstring, stretch, stretching, Stroke, synergistic movement, Synergy