After stroke, bend your way to greater balance

The period of recovery after a stroke is a daunting one. There’s so much uncertainty: Will you be able to take care of yourself? Will you get your life back?

Regular e-Tips readers already know there are plenty of natural ways to reduce your risk of having a stroke. Citrus, pears, and even chocolate could help reduce your risk. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Try searching “stroke” in the e-Tips archives for pages and pages more.

And Nutrition and Healing subscribers who missed it can read about the incredible “fruit bowl cure” for preventing strokes by clicking here. (If you’re not a subscriber yet click here to find out how to become one…it’s easy!)

But what happens if you DO have a stroke?

That’s when an ancient practice can become a modern day “miracle.” One that helped participants in a recent study significantly improve their balance after only 8 weeks.

A study published in the journal Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association reveals that patients who participated in a yoga-based rehabilitation workout program following a stroke had better improvement than those who did the usual post-stroke rehab.

They also showed more significant improvement toward independence and had less of a fear of falling than their run-of-the-mill rehab counterparts.

This follows an earlier study that showed that yoga improved functional strength, flexibility, and endurance in stroke patients.

In the more recent study, participants went to yoga classes twice per week and did standing, seated, and floor postures that became more challenging week after week. The average age of the patients was 63 years.

The study’s findings are really impressive. In fact, according to the researchers they defy what’s in the literature for older adults. That means yoga appears to be outdoing any other kind of rehab, to the point that it’s doing things scientists and doctors thought rehab COULDN’T do.

If you had a stroke several years ago and are worried you missed the boat on the benefits of yoga, take heart. The average time since the stroke for these trial participants was four years.

And these findings could be especially important to women. In another study, Swedish researchers recently found that women have a poorer quality of life after a stroke than men do. The participants in the yoga program showed significant improvements in quality of life factors. That means yoga could really offer something major to women.

Of course, this isn’t the only time I’ve told you about the many benefits of yoga. Previously, I’ve written about yoga’s effect on an irregular heartbeat.

P.S. Can taking “too much” B12 be dangerous? Keep reading to find out.

Sources:
“Yoga Steadies Stroke Victims,” Medpage Today (medpagetoday.com)

“Women May Fare Worse Than Men After Stroke,” Medline Plus (nlm.nih.gov)