What is Hemiplegia?
Hemiplegia is a condition known as paralysis of one side of the body. If you have hemiplegia, you either have congenital hemiplegia or acquired hemiplegia. Congenital hemiplegia is known as paralysis of one side of the body due to brain injury that happened before, during or just after birth. Acquired hemiplegia is caused by a brain injury that occurred later in life.
What are the causes of hemiplegia?
Hemiplegia is caused by brain injury in the cerebral motor system, the part of the brain that controls your body movement. Depending on the location of the injury, different parts of your body may be affected.
The most common cause of Hemiplegia is a stroke. During a stroke, blood supply to a part of the brain is blocked, resulting in lasting brain damage or even death.
What are the symptoms of Hemiplegia?
Hemiplegia affects everyone differently, depending on where the affected part of the brain is located and the size of the injury. Hemiplegia is a non-progressive disorder. This means that your symptoms will not get worse over time.
Some of the most common motor symptoms include:
• muscle weakness or stiffness on one side
• muscle spasticity or permanently contracted muscle
• poor fine motor skills
• trouble walking
• poor balance
• trouble grabbing objects
If you have a paralyzed body part, you may describe the feeling as a heavy, tense or tired sensation with periods of pain, tingling and numbness.
A unique solution
Hemiplegia is treated by addressing the underlying cause and by various forms of therapy to recover motor function in the affected body part. Besides physical therapy, treatment mainly consists of treating symptoms like pain and tremor. If you’re a patient recovering from stroke, your physical treatment often starts with gaining back control over movements and learning to walk again. Depending on the severity of your stroke, regaining the ability to control arm and leg movement might be a long and difficult process.
As one side of your body is paralyzed, you might experience trouble with finding a mobility device that suits your situation. Mobility aids like (wheeled) walkers need two stable hands to be used in a safe way. Using a regular walking cane might seem easier to use but will provide you with less stability than a quadripod cane. In both cases you need to lift the mobility aid when walking, resulting in an unsafe momentum between steps.
The The Wheeleo® allows you to regain your independent, active lifestyle by combining the advantages of different walking aids into 4 unique features: