Harianjogja.com, JAKARTA – Researchers found that left-handed people recover faster if they have a stroke.
The predominance of right or left hand use in a person can determine the outcome of an acute stroke incident, as it can provide clues as to which side of the brain is affected.
This is because hand dominance is an important factor in motor skill performance, with the dominant hand being used for daily activities and recreation.
Researchers have observed stroke survivors having the dominant hand affected by an incident.
One study in particular, found that right-handed patients who had a stroke on the left side of the brain tended to recover their speech more slowly than left-handed people.
Dr. Athwal, Consultant Neurologist at Wellington Hospital’s Stroke Rehabilitation Center, said any problem that affects the brain including stroke can manifest differently depending on the use of the hands.
“Neurologists usually ask people whether they are right-handed or normal to better understand the effects of a stroke. The hand reflects which side of a person’s brain contains the dominant hemisphere and which side of the brain is non-dominant,” he said.
In right-handed people, for example, the dominant hemisphere is on the left.
Furthermore, some studies have found that a stroke will produce different symptoms depending on whether it occurs on the left or right side of the brain.
Most patients are right-handed and 70 percent of right-handed patients have their language center located in the left hemisphere of their brain, another 10 percent of right-handed patients use both hemispheres to control language function.
“One important difference between the right and left sides is the function of language. It is the ability to express and understand language in all its forms, not just speaking. In almost all right-handed people, and about half of right-handed people, the language center is on the left, in an area called the left temporal lobe. Stoke here can affect the ability to understand or express language, or both. Because language is such an important function, a stroke on the left side of the brain can have a bigger impact than on the right.”
When a stroke affects the sensory portions of the non-cerebral cortex, the injury can result in disability.
Acute injury to one side of the brain can cause the patient to experience rigidity of the body on the opposite side.
Therefore, when a stroke occurs on the right side of the brain, the recovered patient may still experience stiffness in the right side.
Source: JIBI/Bisnis Indonesia
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