6 TARGETS YOU NEED TO HAVE AS GOALS AFTER STROKE
Even if you have hired the help of a trainer or a therapist to get you started (advised), you must have input towards your own rehabilitation and the way you want to go. Knowledge is power.
My aim is to show you exactly how to achieve 6 things:
1. Correct balance, co-ordination and posture over time
2. Increase muscular, tendon and ligament strength and fitness over time
3. Decrease spasticity and increase specific functional movement return over time
4. Increase confidence and remove fear of the consequences of exercising
5. Become progressively more self-sufficient
6. Become productive in an occupation and be happy with life
Can you take up the challenge? They can all be achieved by you to a certain degree, however old you are, if you want them badly enough and are prepared to sacrifice time and effort. Can a generic programme be created? For example, is there one ‘programme’ that will fit everyone? It would be much easier that way, right?
The simple answer is ‘no’. There are many things that all stroke survivors must do, and many things that most need to do. You will start with basic tasks in order that you can work towards more complex tasks.
Everything you do will rewire your brain: by doing more, you develop more motor control and gain strength. You will ‘get nothing by doing nothing’.
Please understand the degree to which brain repair, neural rewiring and neurogenesis happens can be influenced long after the short therapeutic window after stroke may close.
The longer you’re a stroke survivor, the more you’ll notice that you can ‘win’ or control (manage) many of these but others will have to be accepted. And, I have to tell you, that re-training efforts can never stop.
Long term stroke survivors will be nodding to themselves. New stroke survivors will get to understand what I mean. The good news? ‘Retraining’ can very soon phase into an enjoyable and social physical activity wherein you are actively rehabilitating.
#arnistrokecharity #stroke #strokesurvivors #neuroplasticity #strokerehabilitation #neurorehabilitation #strokerehab #neurorehab #strokesurvivorscan
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Hopefully you have practiced a lot of the exercises presented in the first online video and are progressing more and more with your home rehabilitation!
By clicking on the link you will find the second video to continue your journey towards recovery, efficiently and quickly.
When doing the exercises, please always make sure that you can exercise in safe conditions and have help if necessary!
As you practice, make sure you don't move on to the next exercise until an exercise is going well.
When you're tired, relax!
Each video will provide effective help and advice on how to work on your rehabilitation.
ARNI is the only method that can achieve rapid and spectacular improvement. With persistent practice, you can experience this for yourself!
arni.uk.com/product-category/arni-reco#StrokeRehabt#Neuroplasticityp#StrokeRehabilitationb#neurorehabilitationb#NeuroRehabn#strokesurvivorscanr#strokeexercisek#strokerecoveryexercisesy#exerciseafterstrokefterstroke
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s The evidence base shows that you MUST perform some exercises routinely to help yourself to recover well. But what do you actually do?? in the Successful Stroke Survivor online videos Dr Tom Balchin shows you the best (most generalisable) strategies from the best-selling manual The Successful Stroke Survivor.
arni.uk.com/product-category/arni-recommended/
#neurorehabilitation #strokeexercise #arnistrokecharity #NeuroRehab #StrokeRehab #strokerehabdvd
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A review of Successful Stroke Survivor book:
Following my traumatic brain injury, I was determined and relentless to get back on the road to recovery. For guidance on the road to functional recovery and alongside my physiotherapist, this was the book for me. Tom Balchin details the latest evidence based techniques and ARNI approaches to help recovery. I found particularly useful the ways to help reduce spasticity and decline in upper limb as well as how to regain hand and finger function as well as strengthening exercises for lower limb function. Through such detailed and informative advice, married with clear illustrations you are taken through detailed text involving key concepts such as brain plasticity followed by the steps to retrain your affected limbs for the purposes of functionality. For example, to get up from the floor. If you stick with Tom's methods and practice practice practice, you are sure to see results! I even followed this with a session with Tom himself! Absolutely great!
www.strokesolutions.co.uk/product/successful-stroke-survivor-manua#StrokeRehabilitationa#neurorehabilitationa#StrokeRehabr#strokerecoveryexercisesc#exerciseafterstroket#strokeexerciser#strokerecoveryo#Neuroplasticityi#exerciseafterstroket#strokeexercisercise
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Matt Kidd’s remarkable recovery in 2026 serves as a professional-grade reminder that the perceived plateau in stroke rehabilitation is often just a lack of available rehab intensity mixed with a bit of appropriately applied tech (if one can get it). After suffering a second stroke in 2021 that left his left side immobile, Matt spent years facing stalled progress and felt he had reached a permanent dead end.
However, following a pioneering procedure in July 2025 where UW Medicine neurosurgeons fitted him with a first-of-its-kind brain stimulation implant, the impossible has become reality. After just months of stimulation paired with six weeks of targeted therapy, Matt has regained the intricate fine-motor control required to pick up a cup, fasten a nut to a bolt, and even close a shower curtain independently 🧠🦾
This breakthrough perfectly aligns with the mission of the ARNI Stroke Rehab UK Institute, which has always championed the idea that the brain retains a latent capacity for re-wiring long after the initial event. While the ARNI Charity works tirelessly to provide survivors with the specialised physical strategies needed to drive neuroplasticity through high-repetition practice, Matt's story proves that combining such grit with neural stimulation can unlock entirely new levels of function.
For us survivors, this success is a call to arms to never settle for a 'dead end' and to continue utilising evidence-based training to bridge the gap between clinical stabilisation and real-world, meaningful independence ⚡️🧤
www.arni.uk.com
#ARNIStrokeRehab #Neuroplasticity #BrainImplant #StrokeRecovery2026 #FineMotorSkills
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Have YOU got aphasia?
Approximately 40% of stroke survivors experience this difficulty: to comprehend or produce spoken or written language caused by a cerebrovascular accident. In half of these cases the language impairment still persists one year post-stroke. Aphasia has wide-ranging effects on the ability to function and quality of life of stroke survivors and easily leads to social isolation.
If you need help, ARNI SLT Telerehab can now help YOU, right now, wherever you are in the world!
The latest evidence shows clearly that you can conquer aphasia very successfully with the help of speech and language therapy.
And it also shows that SLT Telerehab is just as effective as in-person, face to face treatment.
We have a team of highly experienced low-cost specialist SLTs (all post-grads from Universities such as UCL, the University of Cape Town etc) who are available to help you right now, in your home, via Zoom. You get a one to one hourly service, based around your diary needs, from the comfort of your own home, with a highly experienced specialist speech and language therapist. Please enquire to arni.uk.com/get-remote-speech-language-help-now/ !
#aphasia #strokesurvivors #strokerecovery #StrokeRehabilitation #StrokeRehab #aphasiaawareness #neurorehabilitation #arni #exerciseafterstroke #strokeexercise #strokerecoveryexercises #Neuroplasticity #ARNIstrokerehab
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A look-back 23 years! One of the first ARNI Posters from 2003 - featuring Dr Tom and Dave Waters. Dave (my martial arts teacher back then - 7th Dan) and I started ARNI and Dave retired after 3 years mainly due to the long distance he had to come to get to the premises. Great times.... who remembers him? Tim Wells and Margot Montague will - and Leiske will too if she's on this board...
www.arni.uk#arnistroket#strokerecoverysuccessc#Neuroplasticityi#strokerecoveryo#NeuroRehabrehab
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Brains learn what they do. And for such adaptation to happen optimally, you must be prepared to do some focused work with whatever movement you possess, even if you believe you have none at all. Over and over again, with as much attention to detail as you can muster. How do YOU yourself try to go about this? Do explain so that others can be inspired...
Dr Tom says that the idea that ‘it’s all about neuroplasticity’ (focused task-practice) may be too simplistic to be a fully robust basis for an innovative Approach to stroke recovery. It is important to appreciate that in some cases stroke damage may be so extensive and severe that remaining neural networks (if any) may be too weak to be ‘retrained’.
There exists some evidence which indicates that there may have to be enough remaining neural networks to be able to ‘re-programme’ for plasticity to work optimally. There is also evidence though that your brain is able to recruit remaining neural networks (usually near the lesion) to perform the similar functions of the damaged ones. Sometimes this even includes networks in areas of your brain that were not normally involved in the specific motor system. Neuroplasticity needs very specific input with the proper stimulus which should be done regularly enough to become a habit.
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#arnistrokecharity #stroke #strokesurvivors #neuroplasticity
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Cathy Nail from Chatham, London represents the professional-grade resilience required to rebuild a high-performance life, proving that a stroke does not have to be the final word on one's career or ambitions. Instead of accepting a diminished role, she has channelled her recovery energy into entrepreneurial action, successfully launching and scaling her own business ventures despite the formidable hurdles left in the stroke's wake. Her journey demonstrates that the same grit utilised in high-intensity rehabilitation can be directly translated into the boardroom, where problem-solving and tenacity are the primary currencies of success for any serious survivor 🦾📈
Her approach to post-stroke life perfectly mirrors the ethos of the ARNI Stroke Rehab UK Institute, which prioritises functional independence and the refusal to be defined by a medical plateau ;) By viewing her recovery as a lifelong project of self-optimisation, Cathy has balanced the demands of intensive physical training with the strategic pressures of business ownership, showing that meaningful recovery is most effective when tethered to a clear sense of professional purpose. This relentless drive is exactly what the ARNI Charity supports by equipping survivors with the specialised physical strategies needed to reclaim their identities as leaders and doers 🧠✨
For the serious survivor, Cathy’s story is a call to arms to stop waiting for permission to return to a high-achieving life and to start building the necessary infrastructure for independence today. Whether you are battling hemiparesis or cognitive fatigue, her success proves that your professional skills have not disappeared; they simply require a new, athletic framework of physical practice to be unleashed once more. By adopting this high-performance mindset and utilising the elite training principles championed by ARNI, you can move from being a passive recipient of care to becoming a proactive driver of your own professional destiny 🦾🌟
www.arni.uk.com
#ARNIStrokeRehab #StrokeSurvivor #BusinessAfterStroke #NeuroRehab #StrokeRecovery2026
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What is post-stroke fatigue anyway? Characteristics may include: overwhelming tiredness and lack of energy to perform daily activities; abnormal need for naps, rest, or extended sleep; more easily tired by daily activities than pre-stroke; unpredictable feelings of fatigue without apparent reason. It's also often under-recognised; so healthcare professionals such as ARNI Stroke Rehab & Recovery instructors should anticipate the possibility of post-stroke fatigue and prepare people who have experienced a stroke and families to mitigate fatigue through assessment, education, and interventions throughout the stroke-recovery continuum [Evidence Level B].
Tom notes: Post-stroke fatigue does not appear to be correlated to the severity of stroke. People who experience very mild stroke may still experience post-stroke fatigue.
#arnistrokecharity #stroke #strokesurvivors #neuroplasticity #strokefatigue
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