What to Do When You Reach a Stroke Recovery Plateau

There comes a time in most people's stroke recoveries where they reach a plateau.  Progress slows, it doesn't seem like you'll get any further, and your stroke therapist might even say that that's as far as you'll get in your recovery.

Well, the good news is that most of the time they are wrong!  So what does a plateau mean then and what can you do about it?

Often a plateau just means keep going.  It's like learning to ride a bike: you work at it and work at it and things move slowly, or not at all, and then suddenly you take off and you ride.  This often happens in stroke recovery also.  One way to deal with a plateau is to just keep going, even putting more effort in to your stroke recovery, knowing that sooner or later things will fall in to place.

Another way to deal with a plateau is to add therapies to help in that area.  Some therapies are limited in what they can do for us with our individual brain condition.  Sometimes we need different therapies which use a different angle and different techniques to promote recovery.

An example of this is Bill who has apraxia.  He was unable to say anything with Speech Therapy.  The therapist said he'd never learn to say anything again.  Over time he learnt to say "yes" and "no".  Then he tried a program that uses singing to relearn speech.  Through this he learnt to say "My name is Bill".  Now he is using professional Kinesiology (sometimes referred to as applied kinesiology in the United States) and has learnt to say hello and a few other words.  Now Bill is about to begin the sensory trigger method to recover his speech.

The point is, instead of taking a plateau as a dead end, Bill added different therapies to help him recover speech.  Of course he has a long way to go, but he will get there so long as he keeps working and using what's available to help him- even if it isn't what his doctor or therapist suggests.

So when you come to a plateau, ask your therapist if they think you'll get past it.  If they think that you've reached the limit of your stroke recovery, find another therapy that will help.  And keep going, keep practicing the exercises and techniques that different therapists give you.

And remember, a plateau does not necessarily mean you have reached the end of your stroke recovery!