Assisted arm exercises
When there is some movement in the affected arm, but not enough to manage tasks independently, performing active assisted movements can help to build improvement. Active assisted means using your other arm, or a partner to assist the movement. You want the affected arm to perform as much as possible, with your partner just giving enough assistance to perform the movement.
Some active assisted exercises you can perform include:
Grasp and release
For this exercise you need something you can grab on to, a bottle of water, a tin of peas, it can be anything you can find in your house.
To perform this exercise, have your arm sitting on a table with the tin/bottle beside your hand. With assistance if required, open your hand as wide as possible, move your hand into position with the object in the crook of your thumb, and grasp the object tightly. Hold for a couple of seconds before letting go completely and moving your hand away.
In stroke exercise the key is repetition, so the more repetitions you can perform over and over, the better.
To perform this exercise, have your arm sitting on a table with the tin/bottle beside your hand. With assistance if required, open your hand as wide as possible, move your hand into position with the object in the crook of your thumb, and grasp the object tightly. Hold for a couple of seconds before letting go completely and moving your hand away.
In stroke exercise the key is repetition, so the more repetitions you can perform over and over, the better.
Hand to mouth
With your hand hanging by your side or on your lap, try to bend the elbow and bring your hand towards your mouth. touch your mouth or chin if you can, before slowly lowering you arm until the elbow is straight again. Your partner can assist the movement with one hand behind your elbow and one hand at your wrist if required.
Lifting objects
This exercise requires an object to grab onto, such as a bottle or tin.
First, grasp the bottle like the grasp/release exercise, now try to lift the object from the table and move it to another area of the table. This can be made harder by trying to stack the tins on top of one another, or by placing targets on the table, such as coasters, to aim the object for.
As with the other exercises, the more repetitions the better, and the more it is performed throughout the day, the better chance of improved movement in the affected limb.
First, grasp the bottle like the grasp/release exercise, now try to lift the object from the table and move it to another area of the table. This can be made harder by trying to stack the tins on top of one another, or by placing targets on the table, such as coasters, to aim the object for.
As with the other exercises, the more repetitions the better, and the more it is performed throughout the day, the better chance of improved movement in the affected limb.