6 years (post stroke), it is (-:

Even 6 years post-stroke (8 April 2016) I still see remarkable improvements.

You can watch my “before and after” videos and see for yourself on the following link (https://www.brainandspinerehab.com.cy/leg-arm-hand )

Note that it has only been approximately one year since I started making these videos.

I did make changes to my training though, (Those of you in a similar situation are going to be happy when you hear this (-:) I CUT my working-out hours a lot! I’m working out smarter and more efficiently now (only 3 times 20 minutes , 4 times a week, not counting biking 4 times a week)

As you will see, I added comments to the videos in which I explain what I do and why I am doing it. I hope you can learn from these videos and try out for yourself!

I see my leg, arm and hand as a “puzzle”, which I have to solve and share what works with fellow stroke survivors. All I can say, I have made steady improvement, but I am not there yet (full recovery).

First, as you will learn in the video's, you start with muscle isolation. Why? You break down the movement you want to accomplish into parts and isolate them. Why? It is easier to learn things if you divide them (no multitasking in the beginning!) And you need to isolate the weakest muscles! Otherwise the strong muscles take over. When you work only on the weakest muscles, they get stronger and become reactivated. Then add another muscle and so on.

During the last year I also continued working on inventions. I strongly believe they will not just work for stroke survivors, but for those with a traumatic brain injury in general.

The inventions contain so called multi modal sensory stimuli; they involve all sensory systems in order to alter the connectivity of the user’s brain:

1. visual (relating to seeing or sight)

2. auditory (relating to the sense of hearing)

3. proprioception (perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body)

4. mechanoreception (ability to detect and respond to certain kinds of stimuli—notably touch, sound, and changes in pressure or posture—in its environment)

5. vestibular (particularly that of the inner ear, or more generally to the sense of balance)

6. dopamine circuits (rehabs the cognition by being mentally engaging)

We need all of these sensory inputs to make full use of neuroplasticity (at least above 25 years of age). Little set back: So far, I have not found anyone who wants to help me make them. But heck, remember Edison? He tried 10.000 times to make the light bulb. Everyone thought he was crazy and that he would not make it…. This reminds me of the doctors saying: “I doubt that you will walk and talk again”

Yeeah right!

X Linda