Here is a strategy that you can use to get an affected arm or hand involved if you are currently having difficulty with motor skills in that area. Use your unaffected limp to actually guide the affected limb to perform the desired task.

For example: When I shampoo my hair I am now able to use my left affected hand to rub the shampoo through my hair even though I still have very little feeling there.

Before I was able to get to that step I would literally grab my left hand with my right and do the motions that I needed to do. This would help my brain to remember and get the muscles working.

When you don't use any muscle for any extended time and you begin to use it again it can be very uncomfortable and painful. I experienced that just carrying something light in my left hand.  You would think that a limb with little or no feeling would not have so much pain but it's the muscles that haven't been used that are screaming at you.

This is a reason why some people just stop using an affected part of their body. It is very difficult and painful.


Imagine how you would feel even if you never had a stroke and you were to run a marathon without ever having any training. First of all you could  hurt yourself real bad and should never attempt anything like that without building your body properly step by step. But if you did do something like push your body hard without being prepared you would really feel the pain especially the next day.

It's pretty much the same thing only harder when you have any sort of paralysis. It is difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't experienced it.  I remember when I was learning how to walk in rehab after my stroke, I literally had to tell my legs to move in order to attempt a step. Not only couldn't I walk because I was paralyzed but I didn't even know how to walk. This was even with a Physical Therapist at my side coaxing me along.

The point is it is extremely difficult and you did not ask for this to happen in your life but it did and if you want to improve you must use it to improve it. Even if you have to use one hand to move the other at least you are activating the muscles and getting the brain involved.

You have to believe it and then work at it. No one can tell you how much you can get back or what to expect as we are all different and have suffered varying degrees of damage. However I will guarantee you this, you can  improve and you can make small improvements each and every day but you need to believe in yourself and you need to work harder than ever on your most crucial project ever, yourself.

Bob Miller
StrokesSuck.com