- Proprioception: the ability to imagine where your body is in space without looking at it.
- Eyesight: the ability to find "true north" and/or where the horizon is.
- Vestibular sense: the ability to sense movement, and know where your head and body are in space. When the vestibular system is not working it's the classic inner ear problem: Meniere's disease, dizziness, vertigo.
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
"𝗜 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗱𝗼?"
Sunday, December 13, 2020
You've had a 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 stroke? Hold her beer!
This image looks like right
side of Michelle's brain is gone. But this this image is taken in radiological convention. What
is radiological convention? Imagine you've entered a patient's room.
You are at the foot of the bed looking at them. That's radiological
convention: As if you're standing at the foot of their bed.
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Pete On a Podcast
I was interviewed on the Strokecast podcast by Super Survivor Bill Monroe.
We talked about stroke recovery while touching on everything from Malcolm Gladwell, to the po
Friday, October 30, 2020
Get better movement without moving a muscle
Let me come straight to the point: There are three ways to drive changes in your brain to help you move better. All three effect very similar parts of the brain. And here is something that warms my lazy heart: Two of them you don't have to move a muscle!
The image above is from researchers Robert M Hardwick, Svenja Caspers, Simon B Eickhoff, and Stephan P Swinnen. (Reference)
What moves your body? It always starts with the brain!
We all know that muscles move us.
But the brain moves muscles. This idea is lost on a lot of clinicians
in rehab. They'll talk about muscle strength, range of motion, quality of
movement, etc. etc. etc., but not talk about the brain. Why don't they talk
about it? They can't see it. They can't measure it. And really, they can't help
it.
How do you get the brain to
change to move better?
There's a bunch of ways to get the
brain to rewire for better movement.
1: Move. This is called repetitive practice. "We are we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” (Will Durant, paraphrasing Aristotle). The more you do a movement repetitively, the more the part of the brain that controls that movement is activated.* Note: No one else can do if for you, it has to be you doing the work. Musicians know it, athletes know it, dancers know it, martial artists know it, and now you know! More info here.
2: Imagine a movement. This is called mental imagery, or mental practice. If you imagine doing a movement the way you did it prior to your brain injury, the part of the brain that controls that movement is activated.* More info here.
3: Watch someone else do the movement. This is called action observation. If you watch someone do a movement, the part of the brain that you use to do that movement is activated.* Find instructions here.
About this image:
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
tPA: 𝙎𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 Not Used Enough
I'm reading the book tPA for Stroke: The Story of a Controversial Drug* about the clot busting drug that's used in "block" (ischemic) strokes. It was published in 2011.
The book tells the long, winding, political, and controversial path tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) took to get to market, and then be—somewhat at least—accepted as a treatment for ischemic (block) strokes. Is TPA still controversial? For some reason, yes.
Interesting Facts About TPA
•A study by the American Heart
Association looked at data from 300,000+
ischemic stroke patients, TPA was administered to 3.3% of patients.
⇒2.2% of patients at regular
hospitals got tPA
⇒6.7% at hospitals with Primary
Stroke Center Certification.
⇒Survivors are three times more
likely to get tPA if at a certified stroke center.
•In 2019 the journal Stroke did a review
of malpractice suits relating to treatment of stroke in hospitals
⇒Almost 30% of the cases were failure
to treat with tPA.
⇒The average payout for pre-trail
settlements was $1.8m. The average payout for court verdicts was almost $10m.
•A 2020 article in the Journal
of the American Academy of Neurology found “Overall, about
one-quarter of eligible patients with AIS (‘block stroke’) presenting within 2
hours of stroke onset failed to receive tPA treatment.”
⇒The article points out that women
and minorities are undertreated with tPA because of course they are.
•Speaking of women: Another
2020 article in the Journal of the American Academy of Neurology found…
⇒Compared to men, women were 30% less
likely get tPA.
⇒Sidenote: Women are also less likely
to receive aggressive treatment when it comes to heart attack. (link)
•Weird Science: tPA is never
safe for hemorrhagic strokes. Except sometimes.
⇒There
are multiple studies (1, 2, 3)
showing that tPA can be used to increase longevity, decrease incrainial
pressure (pressure on the brain inside the skull), and reduce injury to neurons
from hydrocephaly (brain swelling). Note: t-PA in "bleed" stroke
shows efficacy in ongoing clinical trials, not yet in clinical
practice. The data we're waiting on is from the CLEAR
III trial.
•Can tPA be given for a second stroke? Yes! About
25% of survivors will have a second stroke. So its important to know two
things:
⇒You
should know the FAST test. Better yet, know my better
version of the test.
⇒tPA is safe and just
as effective for a second stroke. Or, if you want it more science-y: "Repeated
use of IV-tPA was not associated with an increased risk of intracerebral
hemorrhage or death in patients with recurrent acute ischemic stroke."
•Is tPA effective and safe if you're over 80? Yes!
*The author, Justin Allen Zivin, MD, Ph.D., passed away in 2018 at age 71. He dedicated his career to identifying treatments for stroke, specifically the use of tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA... He encouraged the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to change the paradigm for clinical stroke research, organizing a study that required a complete rethinking of how stroke care is managed.
This book was co-authored by John Galbraith Simmons.