Stroke is unpredictable, but one extremely common effect of stroke is fatigue. Some studies indicate that as many as 70 percent of survivors experience fatigue at some time following their stroke. Unlike exertional fatigue that we feel after working in the yard, post-stroke fatigue occurs from doing typical everyday tasks or sometimes from not doing anything.
“It is a fatigue associated with the nervous system, which is quite difficult to understand,” said Jade Bender-Burnett, P.T., D.P.T., N.C.S., a neurological physical therapist in Falls Church, Virginia. “It’s very frustrating to the person who’s living with it because, unlike exertional fatigue, poststroke fatigue doesn’t always resolve after you take a break, or get some rest.”
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