Hand Exercises for Stroke Recovery in Seniors

Hand Exercises for Stroke Recovery in Seniors

Hand exercises for stroke recovery in seniors. According to research, in the first six months post-stroke, patients will see the biggest improvement in hand mobility. However, if they continue to work at it, this progress can be lifelong.

All of us require both grip and pinch strength for everyday activities.

Grip strength is the force required to hold or move an object. For example, you need grip strength to open a jar or carry a heavy bag of groceries. Pinch strength is the smaller amount of force needed for activities like turning a key.

You can improve your fine motor skills by doing any of the following:

To help improve your fine motor skills, you can:

• Shuffle cards and deal them one by one. As they get better at this, increase the speed at which you shuffle and dealt the cards.
• Practice lacing and tying a bow on a shoe. You can also use thicker materials like fabric or ribbon to make it more challenging.
• Tie knots and untie them. Start with simple ones like square or granny knots before moving on to harder ones like double fisherman’s knots.
• Pick up coins, buttons, marbles, or other miscellaneous objects from a “junk drawer.” (Try sorting objects into small containers.) Try using tweezers to do this. This helps develop their precision grip muscle memory.

More Daily Hand Exercises for Seniors

To increase dexterity in your hands, try these exercises:

• Crumble a piece of paper or cloth into a small ball with one hand.
• Button and unbutton buttons.
• Open and close safety pins; try making a chain.
• Screw and unscrew large/small wing nuts from bolts.
• Use a screwdriver in both hands and practice screwing/unscrewing various sized screws.
• Put away the silverware from the dishwasher.
• Play dominoes/checkers/Scrabble/jigsaws etc., Stack checkers or coins as high as possible, and make a house of cards.

Try your hand at any handicraft; macrame, woodwork, tile projects, model kits, knitting, etc. Some things you can do to practice fine motor skills:

• Put a key into a lock and turn it back and forth
• Unscrew the lids of jars
• Turn a door handle
• Pour water from one container to another
• Write or type something — anything

What is the single most important element in stroke recovery for seniors? Click here —–> STROKE RECOVERY