After a stroke
Prompts that support stroke recovery
Recovery after a stroke happens in the ordinary hours at home far more than in appointments. Routine is the scaffolding those hours hang on.
Short answer
Keep prompts few, short and always at the same time. Fatigue is the biggest limiting factor after a stroke, so plan effort into the morning and protect the afternoon.
Fatigue is the thing to plan around
Post-stroke fatigue is not ordinary tiredness and it does not respond to willpower. Trying to do everything in one burst produces two lost days afterwards.
Pacing — planned effort followed by planned rest — is the approach stroke teams recommend, and it needs to be built into the timetable rather than decided in the moment.
Keep prompts short and consistent
- One instruction per message. Two ideas in one sentence can be hard to process after a stroke.
- The same wording every day, so it becomes familiar rather than new information.
- Spoken as well as written, if language processing is affected.
- Fixed times, so the day has predictable shape.
Protect the exercises without policing them
Rehabilitation exercises work when they are done regularly, and regularity is exactly what is hard when concentration and initiation are affected. A quiet reminder at the same hour supports that without a family member becoming the enforcer.
If exercises are being skipped consistently, tell the therapy team rather than pushing harder — often the programme needs adjusting.
Know the emergency signs
Any new facial droop, arm weakness or speech difficulty is a 999 call. Do not wait to see if it passes. The Stroke Association's FAST guidance applies just as much to someone who has already had a stroke.