Stroke Rehabilitation at Home in Sadashiv Peth, Pune

When someone returns home after a stroke, the family inherits a new job almost overnight: helping with the bed, the bathroom, meals and walking, while hospital staff are no longer on hand. In Sadashiv Peth, where many homes are old, the job often includes narrow doorways, a raised threshold at the bathroom and a staircase between the patient and the street.

Our stroke rehabilitation guide describes recovery in general terms. This page is about doing it at home in the peth, and about the family's part in it.

Teaching the family, not just treating the patient

In a home programme, the person who spends the most hours with the patient decides how much practice happens. So we aim to teach the helper as much as the patient. At the first visits the physiotherapist usually shows the family:

• how to help the patient roll, sit up and move from bed to chair without pulling on the weak arm;
• how to stand beside the weak side when walking, and where to put a hand;
• how to position the arm and leg in bed and in the chair to protect the shoulder and reduce stiffness;
• which tasks the patient should attempt alone, and which still need a helper.

Written or demonstrated, these are things a helper can repeat daily, so practice does not depend on the physiotherapist being there.

Doors, thresholds and the courtyard

Older homes in the peths often have narrow doors, raised sills and small rooms. A frame or a wheelchair may not pass, and a patient who could walk a short distance indoors may be stopped by the bathroom step. We look at these on the spot and decide together what to change: which furniture to move, where to place a stool or a rail, and whether the patient should practise stepping over the sill with support.

If your home is a wada with a courtyard, it can serve as a safe, flat place for supervised walking once the patient is ready, with a chair at each end for rests. In a building with a staircase, we practise indoors first and treat the first trip down as a planned event, with a helper below the patient. The treatment of weak shoulders after stroke often draws on techniques from manual therapy at home, applied gently and with care for a shoulder that may be fragile.

What a typical home session covers

1. A check on how the patient feels that day, including tiredness, dizziness and any new symptoms, since recovery varies from day to day.
2. Exercises for the weak side, chosen to match what the patient can do now.
3. Practice of everyday tasks: standing up, walking, dressing, reaching.
4. Work on balance, which prevents falls, a risk we discuss further under elderly physiotherapy in Sadashiv Peth.
5. A short plan for the days between visits.

We do not promise how much recovery to expect or how fast. Progress after stroke varies widely, depends on the type and site of the stroke, and is steadier with regular practice.

Warning signs after a stroke

A new or repeat episode of weakness, facial droop, slurred speech or sudden confusion needs an ambulance at once, and it should not wait for a scheduled visit. Chest pain, breathlessness, a painful swollen calf, a fall with a head injury or a seizure also call for emergency care.

If you are planning for a family member who is still in hospital, you can book a first visit in advance. See also how home physiotherapy in Sadashiv Peth is organised.