Stroke rehabilitation.

Abstract

Based on the number of patients involved, stroke dominates the field of neurologic rehabilitation. The prevalence of stroke in the United States population is 1.4 million. This represents a prevalence for stroke of 612 per 100,000 population, compared with 157 for Parkinson's disease, 50 for spinal-cord injury, 42 for multiple sclerosis, and 16 for head-injured survivors with neurologic sequelae. This article provides an overview of stroke rehabilitation and covers patient management for the acute phase, subacute phase, and chronic phase poststroke. Medical and nursing care are discussed throughout and physical, occupational, and speech therapy for patients in these three phases are explored.