Hemiparesis, or unilateral paresis, is weakness of 1 entire side of the body (hemi- means "half"). Hemiplegia is, in its most severe form, complete paralysis of half the body.
Hemiparesis and hemiplegia are often caused by different medical conditions, including congenital causes, trauma, tumors, or stroke. Pusher syndrome may be a clinical disorder following left or right hemisphere damage during which patients actively push their weight faraway from the nonhemiparetic side to the hemiparetic side. In contrast to most
stroke patients, who typically prefer more weight-bearing on their nonhemiparetic side, this abnormality can vary in severity and results in a loss of postural balance. The lesion involved during this syndrome is assumed to be within the posterior thalamus on either side, or multiple areas of the proper hemisphere . With a diagnosis of pusher behaviour, three important variables should be seen, the foremost obvious of which is spontaneous body posture of a longitudinal tilt of the torso toward the paretic side of the body occurring on a daily basis and not only once in a while . the utilization of the nonparetic extremities to make the pathological lateral tilt of the body axis is another sign to be noted when diagnosing for pusher behaviour. This includes abduction and extension of the extremities of the non-affected side, to assist within the push toward the affected (paretic) side. The third variable that's seen is that attempts of the therapist to correct the pusher posture by getting to realign them to upright posture are resisted by the patient. In patients with acute
stroke and hemiparesis, the disorder is present in 10.4% of patients.
Rehabilitation may take longer in patients that display pusher behaviour. The Copenhagen
Stroke Study found that patients that presented with ipsilateral pushing used 3.6 weeks more to succeed in an equivalent functional outcome level on the Barthel Index, than did patients without ipsilateral pushing.
Relevant Topics in Medical Sciences
