---
title: "Stroke"
description: "Articles on rehabilitation after ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke: recovery timeline, walking, arm and hand, spasticity, speech, swallowing and life at home."
date: 2026-11-02
canonical: https://drmotiva.com/en/topics/stroke/
lang: en
---

# Stroke

A stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked (ischaemic stroke) or when a vessel bleeds (haemorrhagic stroke). The weeks and months that follow are when most recovery takes place, and rehabilitation helps the brain use its capacity to reorganise (neuroplasticity).

After acute hospital care, the rehabilitation process is led by a physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) physician, working with the physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech and language therapist. The articles below cover the questions families ask most often: how long recovery takes, when walking may return, how the arm and hand recover, and how to manage spasticity (muscle stiffness), shoulder pain, swallowing and speech problems.

**Where to start:** read the [stroke guide](https://drmotiva.com/en/guides/stroke/) for an overview, then [Stroke rehabilitation](https://drmotiva.com/en/articles/stroke-rehabilitation/) and the [Stroke recovery timeline](https://drmotiva.com/en/articles/stroke-recovery-timeline/). For walking, see [When will a stroke patient walk again?](https://drmotiva.com/en/articles/when-will-a-stroke-patient-walk/); for everyday life, [Life at home after stroke](https://drmotiva.com/en/articles/life-at-home-after-stroke/).

Every person’s course is different. Your physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and the physiotherapist set the goals and the programme after an examination.