What are the common disorders of hemiplegia syndrome?

Hemiplegia refers to a common disease characterized by motor dysfunction of half of the limbs due to cerebral vascular accident, brain trauma, brain tumor, etc., and may be accompanied by symptoms such as aphasia, agnosia, depression and blurred vision. So what are the disorders of hemiplegic syndrome?

1. Movement disorders

Movement disorder refers to the inability to move the upper and lower limbs on one side of the hemiplegia, and the movement is difficult or inflexible.

2. Sensory impairment

Sensory impairment often manifests as pain and numbness in a particular limb. Some patients have completely lost the sense of pain and hot and cold, and have no feeling at all when their skin is burned by a hot water bottle.

3. Language and speech disorders

Some hemiplegic patients, especially those with right hemiplegic disease (lesions in the left hemisphere of the brain), often experience one or more of the following when speaking or talking:

(1) The patient speaks unclearly, which is called slurred speech.

(2) The patient is unable to speak or can only utter a few words intermittently like sending a telegram.

(3) The patient cannot understand what his relatives say, which leads to sensory aphasia.

(4) The patient sometimes cannot speak or understand what others say.

(5) The patient has difficulty or is unable to write, even his or her own name.

(6) The patient cannot read the words just by looking at them. It is medically known as dyslexia, or reading disability.

4. Cognitive impairment

Cognition is the general term for the process by which a person recognizes and understands things, including recognition, memory, thinking, reasoning, etc. Cognitive impairment often manifests itself in the following aspects:

(1) Unable to tell whether it was morning or afternoon. Time disorientation

(2) Unable to identify the location at the time. Location Disorientation

(3) The patient no longer recognizes the people he or she was familiar with before the illness. Character disorientation

(4) Apathy and lack of concentration. Attention disorders

(5) Losing things easily. Forgetting what you said earlier. Memory impairment

5. Emotional disorders

The patient may be silent, noisy, or even crying and screaming, and his emotions are very unstable.

6. Decreased ability

(1) The ability to carry out daily activities is reduced or even lost, often manifested in the need for others to feed them when eating or drinking, and to help them wash their faces and brush their teeth. They are unable to bathe, dress, or put on shoes by themselves, and have to rely on others for help with urination and defecation.

(2) Difficulty walking. Some patients walk with a limp. Some patients need help from others or two people to support their arms while walking. In severe cases, the patients cannot walk at all.

(3) Difficulty going up and down stairs. Although some patients can walk, they have difficulty going up and down stairs or are unable to go up and down stairs at all.

(4) Unable to use simple daily tools, such as making phone calls, holding an umbrella, or cutting nails.

(5) Unable to communicate with others. Due to obstacles in movement, speech, communication, thinking, etc., they are unable to carry out their original work. In severe cases, they lose all ability to work.

7. Swallowing disorders

Patients with swallowing disorders experience drooling, food remaining in the mouth when fed, and choking when drinking water. Whenever you encounter a patient with swallowing difficulties, tilt his head to the side with normal limbs when drinking water, and process the food into a paste. This can alleviate the difficulty in swallowing.

8. Common complications

The most common complications are shoulder subluxation, shoulder-hand syndrome, deep vein thrombosis of the lower limbs and urinary tract infection.

(1) Shoulder subluxation is common in the early stages of stroke and may occur in half of patients, especially when the entire upper limb is in the flaccid paralysis stage. When the patient is sitting or standing, the subluxation of the shoulder joint becomes more obvious due to the effect of gravity, and a depression can be felt in the shoulder. Once shoulder subluxation occurs, the following treatments may be used:

①The patient should adopt the correct posture when lying in bed;

② The nurse taps the muscles around the affected shoulder with his fingertips;

③ Upper limb weight-bearing training.

(2) Shoulder-hand syndrome occurs within 1-3 months after a stroke. The main symptoms are: ① Swelling and pain in the paralyzed hand, with the back of the hand commonly swelling in a pink or lavender color, which feels warm to the touch; ② Difficulty in flexing and extending the joints of the affected hand; ③ In the later stages, the hand muscles atrophy, the palm becomes flat, and the motor function of the hand is permanently lost. The occurrence of shoulder-hand syndrome is related to prolonged flexion and compression of the wrist joint and excessive traction on the affected hand. Specific treatment measures: ① Maintain a good sitting and lying posture to avoid the affected hand from hanging for a long time; ② Strengthen the passive and active movements of the affected upper limb to prevent joint contracture; ③ For swollen fingers, compression wrapping method can be used, usually using a 1-2mm diameter rope to wrap the finger from the distal end to the proximal end, wrap each finger once, and finally wrap the palm. Wrap 1-2 times a day for noticeable results.

9. Timing of rehabilitation training

Hemiplegia rehabilitation training can generally be divided into three periods according to the evolution of the disease.

(1) Acute phase

The acute phase lasts from the onset of illness to one week. The condition during this period is generally not very stable, and treatment should be the main approach, supplemented by rehabilitation training. Once the condition is stable, rehabilitation training should be started as soon as possible.

(2) Recovery period

The recovery period is from one week to six months after the onset of the disease. During this period, the condition is basically stable and various existing disorders are likely to continue to improve, which is the best period for rehabilitation training.

(3) Sequelae

Some stroke patients may have various degrees of sequelae six months after the onset of the disease, such as difficulty in moving their hands and feet, unclear conversation, and the need for help from family members in daily life.