Michael Johnson - Olympic Athlete

Stroke knows no boundaries. They can happen to anyone.

Michael Johnson, athlete, superfit, healthy eater and the list goes on. How refreshing for such a high profile person to share, so publicly, his personal experience. Hopefully, this will give encouragement to others to follow his lead.

Whilst I acknowledge that every Stroke is different and affects people in different ways, the common goal is to make the best recovery possible.

For someone, who at the top of his game, who ran 200 metres in 19.32 seconds to find the reality of covering the same distance in hospital took 15 minutes must have been devastating - -
"tiny incremental" improvements gave him hope.

For me also, any small improvement brought great joy. This kept me focused to achieve the best possible outcome of such a devastating happening.

My mantra has always been: Recovery is a marathon and not a sprint. Just keep working .....

Read an interview with Michael Johnson:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/46234803

Wall Ball for Stroke

After the initial reality of disability after a Stroke, it can be difficult to keep focused on the road to recovery. Valuable work is immediately undertaken with a physiotherapist, either in hospital or in the community, and it can be hard to keep motivated once this contact comes to an end. I have tried all manner of exercises:  with my husband, doing some alone with simple objects that are found around the house and making a tick chart and also exercises within a group.

I read with interest about Wall Ball and the potential benefits that it can bring. Below is the most recent information that I have read regarding this form of exercise.

These particular kind of activity sessions are not only imperative for regaining control over coordination and body movements, but are also a wonderful opportunity to bring together people who have suffered strokes to help them support each other through the recovery process.

Coaches Shareen & Kamran have been tirelessly delivering weekly  sessions to two stroke rehab groups.  The aim of the trial, designed by our very own President and doctor, Daniel Grant, sees us use wallball as an adjunct intervention to community stroke rehab sessions. We hope that by  gamifying some aspects of rehab, wallball can help improve stroke outcomes. Stroke rehab depends heavily on community sessions, often run by volunteers,  and wallball is a cheap, simple and safe activity that can be introduced.

Phase 1 of our trial completed in October, with the team joined by London Sport’s Callum Whitton  to help with the trial recordings.

Phase 2 completes in January  when we re-measure all the tests and see if wallball has made a positive impact on stroke rehab.

We hope to unveil our results at the UK Open in February.
https://ukwallball.co.uk/stroke-trial-update/


A second link to WallBall information and the Stroke Association:  https://ukwallball.co.uk/stroke/