I had a stroke a while ago but I’m still doing the same exercises. What should I do?
A review with a physio experienced in treating people post stroke would be a good idea, because if your exercises don’t change then you won’t change.
If you want to maintain the same level of physical ability, keeping doing the same exercises might be the right thing for you; but in order to improve, you need to challenge yourself with your exercise programme.
Any review appointment would always start with a thorough assessment of your ability. You would discuss what you have been doing to date, what may have changed and what you want to achieve. You would be assessed on how you move including your strength and sensation; if appropriate your arm and hand movement would be assessed as well as your balance and walking. For clarity and future comparison, some standardised measures would be completed.
After the assessment your current exercise programme would be reviewed and changes advised. The suggested programme would be driven by what you want to achieve, findings from the assessment and take into consideration where and how you like to exercise.
Most importantly, for any exercise programme to be beneficial it needs to be targeted to what you want to achieve and in a format that will motivate you to keep it up.