Life After Stroke: The Guide to Recovering Your Health and Preventing Another Stroke »

Joel Stein, M.D., is the chief medical officer at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and associate professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. Julie Silver, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. She is also a medical director at the Spaulding-Framingham outpatient center. Elizabeth Pegg Frates, M.D., is a clinical instructor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.

Every 45 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke. The survivors -- about five million at any given time -- face a host of physical, practical, and emotional challenges. In this compassionate guide, physicians who treat people with stroke cover the path to recovery with practical advice on treatment, rehabilitation, and lifestyle changes that can help prevent a recurrence. Life After Stroke offers hope and optimism to stroke survivors and their families.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Florence A Denby, MS(Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago)
Description:This book provides a comprehensive tool for stroke survivors and their families for understanding stroke etiology, reasons for post-stroke testing, and how to get the most from recovery. Throughout the book, the authors chronicle fascinating accounts of historical figures as well as everyday people who have experienced stroke as they relate to the medical consequences and recovery.
Purpose:This is an attempt to supply people with stroke and their loved ones with the information about what to expect during the rehabilitation process and how to maximize it. More accurate than stroke is the term brain attack, defined as a sudden event causing damage to the brain that with early treatment can be reversed or the progression stopped. The book's substance is captured in the description of a complicated disease with numerous etiologies/comorbidities and the well written explanation of stroke rehabilitation as a multidiscipline process. The book meets its noble objectives for use as a consumer resource in conjunction with the physician and members of the rehabilitation team.
Audience:Although the authors intend this book for people with stroke and their loved ones, in my experience, many stroke survivors would have a difficult time comprehending this material because of the medical terminology and jargon. However, the vignettes, practical examples, drawings, and tables scattered throughout the book provide in-depth information that can be easily understood. The authors are experienced practitioners who have collaborated with stroke and rehabilitation specialists in the thoughtful development of a fine book.
Features:This is a comprehensive overview of what a stroke is, what happens during the initial recovery, and how stroke survivors can make the most of their rehabilitation process and continue to recover throughout their lifetime. Giving consumers knowledge of what possibly caused their stroke empowers them to take necessary precautions for secondary prevention and also allows greater control of modifiable risk factors and outcomes. The chapter on heart and blood vessels and stroke is an excellent teaching tool, especially the party analogy describing what causes hardening of the arteries. The chapter on exercise and stroke addresses the needs of stroke survivors at different levels of functioning whether severe, moderate, mild, and/or without residual functioning problems.
Assessment:It is difficult to write a book for all stroke survivors and their families because of the diversity of the population. This book is an excellent resource for people with stroke, their loved ones, and any one interested in stroke recovery and prevention. Healthcare providers, allied health professionals, and nurses would benefit from this comprehensive tutorial study of stroke prevention and recovery. This offers an excellent source to reference when explaining to patients the nature of their injury and their own role in recovery.