One thing that most of us older folks really fear is having a stroke. The thought of being left paralyzed is frightening, especially if the mind is still functional.

When I was in college, I worked as a night orderly in the intensive care ward of a nursing home and took care of my share of stroke patients. Some were only partially paralyzed while others were completely paralyzed. Some still have sharp minds and some had no clue who they were or where they were.

One patient in particular, Mr. Clausen, I’ll never forget. He had a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side only. He had recently sold many acres of land to a developer for over $10 million. After his stroke, he gave his two grown sons power of attorney to help handle his affairs. They established a trust fund to care for him, put him in the nursing home and left him there to die. That was seven years before I worked there and neither of his sons had ever come to visit since the day they admitted him to the nursing home and it broke his heart.

I’m not rich, I don’t have land to sell or anything else of value, but I still would not want to end up like Mr. Clausen or any of the other stroke patients that I cared for.

According to The Internet Stroke Center:

“U.S. Statistics

• Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. More than 140,000 people die each year from stroke in the United States.
• Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States.
• Each year, approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke. About 600,000 of these are first attacks, and 185,000 are recurrent attacks.
• Nearly three-quarters of all strokes occur in people over the age of 65. The risk of having a stroke more than doubles each decade after the age of 55.
• Strokes can and do occur at ANY age. Nearly one fourth of strokes occur in people under the age of 65.
• Stroke death rates are higher for African-Americans than for whites, even at younger ages.
• On average, someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds.
• Stroke accounted for about one of every 17 deaths in the United States in 2006. Stroke mortality for 2005 was 137,000.
• From 1995–2005, the stroke death rate fell ~30 percent and the actual number of stroke deaths declined ~14 percent.
• The risk of ischemic stroke in current smokers is about double that of nonsmokers after adjustments for other risk factors.
• Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an independent risk factor for stroke, increasing risk about five-fold.
• High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for stroke.”

Recovering from a stroke can be a long and difficult process. It can involve a variety of therapists to help someone learn to walk, talk, feed and dress themselves along with many of the other normal daily tasks that we take for granted.

Researchers here in the US have been working on ways to help therapists help stroke victims. They have developed wearable sensors that monitor many of the functions and things a stroke patient does and sends it directly to the doctor and/or therapists.

Dr. Lizzy McAninch was a stroke victim herself and has been using the wearable sensors, which constantly keep her therapist updated on everything she does. She commented about the sensors:

“This technology to put sensors on the body to assess which muscle groups work or not can really pinpoint the areas affected by the stroke and can target therapies to specifically improve those issues.”

Lizzy’s therapist is Kristen Hohl, who works at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, commented:

“As a therapist, I think about what my patients are doing at home. Are they able to carry through the recommendations I’m giving them as a therapist to do more? Do we see that they are walking more or do we see them engaging in conversations?”

“Those are the types of things that I can get feedback from the sensors where currently I have to rely on what they tell me they have done.”

If you or anyone you know is trying to recover from a stroke, it be worth contacting the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to see if the same technology is available to you and your doctor and therapist.