A physiotherapist does more for a stroke patient than a physician, says expert

Stroke is an ailment that has become quite common in Nigeria, especially among individuals who are older than 50 years.


These individuals are highly prone to the ailment and have always been affected by it. Reason for this susceptibility could be as a result of weakening of blood vessels and eventual deterioration.

Strokes are basically caused when a blood vessel is compromised, leading to its inability to effectively supply blood to various parts of the body. If any part of the brain is cut off blood supply as a result of a blockage or any other form of compromise or defunct blood vessel, it damages the brain.

Consequently, any part of the body that is controlled by that part of the brain stops receiving sensory messages leading to paralysis or stroke.

It is common practice in this part of the world to take every medical case/emergency to the doctor even if there is a specialist in that area who can do more for the patient. In the case of stroke, a physiotherapist can do a lot more for the stroke patient than even a neurosurgeon can.

In a chat with Mr Chris Nnoli, a private physiotherapy practitioner and manager of Cece Physiotherapy consults Abuja, he made a shocking revelation.

According to him, all stroke cases need physiotherapy for efficient management. 

“Once stroke occurs, there isn’t much a doctor can do apart from stabilizing the patient by controlling the blood pressure. Unfortunately, 80 percent of Nigerians are ignorant of this fact” he said.

He also maintained that only a physiotherapist can bring back a stroke patient to near normal status after it has occurred. 

He said: “If you really want to get a stroke patient back to near normal prior to the incident, a physiotherapist should come in as soon as possible”.

He buttressed these facts by recounting an incident in his training days at UNTH, Enugu State. According to him, he experienced the case of a consultant neurologist who was always at loggerheads with physiotherapists over who is the ultimate healer in stroke and related cases. He said the consultant failed to recognize and identify with the existence of physiotherapists. This continued until she had stroke.

"After her successful treatment and management by the same people she undermined, she openly confessed and apologized at a full hospital symposium when she fully recovered. That was a turning point for her,"  he said.

"The decay in the healthcare and constant battle of wits will continue to have its negative toll on patients and innocent Nigerians until everyone realizes that medicine is like a tree with many branches. Each branch has to be of the tree to function effectively and efficiently. It can’t detach itself from the tree nor claim to be the tree itself."