Mengtian lab module successfully launched, the final part of Chinese space station

 Mengtian lab module successfully launched. Graphic: Xu Zihe/GT

China Space Station completes T-shape basic structure assembly in orbit, as Mengtian lab module successfully conducts transposition to the side port

Mengtian lab module conducted successful transposition in orbit at 9:32 am Thursday, marking that China Space Station completed assembly of T-shape basic structure. Shenzhou-14 taikonauts will enter Mengtian Thursday afternoon.

China successfully launches final part of its three-module space station, to complete T-shape structure assembly 

China launches Mengtian lab module via a Long March-5B rocket on Monday afternoon from Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s tropical island province of Hainan.

 

China launches Mengtian lab module via a Long March-5B rocket on Monday afternoon from Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s tropical island province of Hainan.

 

China launches Mengtian lab module via a Long March-5B rocket on Monday afternoon from Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s tropical island province of Hainan.

China successfully launched Mengtian lab module - the third and final part of its three-module home-developed space station - into preset orbit, on Monday afternoon from South China's tropical island province of Hainan, kicking start the final battle of completing the country's T-shape and first-ever permanent space station. 

 

Mengtian, also the second lab module, will be the last piece before China completes the space station assembly.

Mengtian lab module Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology

 

Mengtian lab module Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology

 

Carrying the Mengtian lab module, China's mega Long March-5B Y4 carrier rocket took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site around 3:37 pm on Monday. And after a flight of around eight minutes, the module separated with the rocket and entered its designated orbit, marking the success of the launch mission, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

Following the successful launch, Mengtian will carry out a fast and automated rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe space station core module at the latter's forward docking port, per the CMSA.

The new lab module will then be transpositioned from the forward docking port on Tianhe to the port docking ring on the side, joining the two earlier modules - Tianhe core module and Wentian lab module, to complete the T-shape China Space Station basic structure.

After completing the building of the China Space Station, six taikonauts of two Shenzhou manned spaceflight crew will carry out the first-ever direct handover in orbit.

The powerful Long March-5B carrier rocket has successfully launched all three modules, each weighing over 22 tons at launch, of the China Space Station to date, proving its strength and reliability, the carrier developer the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said in a statement.

The Long March 5B is a one and half stage carrier rocket with four 3.35-meter-diameter liquid propellant boosters, and has a thrust of 1,078 tons by take-off. It is capable of sending payload of 25 tons to the near-Earth orbit.

Huang Bing, the chief designer of the Long March 5 rocket series, told the Global Times that to meet the mission demands of the space station module launch missions, the Long March-5B rocket has made multiple key technology breakthroughs including the separation of the country's largest nose cone at 20.5 meters in length.

The Global Times learned from the Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology (SAST) the developer of the Mengtian module that 17.88-meter-long, 4.2-meter-diameter mega space lab weighs around 23.3 tons by launch, which is the heaviest payload China has ever launched to date.

Mengtian module is designed to be a working zone for astronauts and therefore it does not have life support systems like Tianhe and Wentian, nor the dormitory and restrooms. But Mengtian does have installed physical training facility onboard that is similar to the rowing machine on Earth, the SAST introduced.

As the "workshop" for the China Space Station, Mengtian has the most powerful payload supporting capabilities, as it carries 13 standard payload cabinets, hosting experiments mainly in the fields of microgravity scientific studies as well as frontier scientific projects covering fluid physics, combustion and materials science and space technologies.

The Mengtian will carry the world's first space-based set of cold atomic clocks which will include a hydrogen clock, a rubidium clock and an optical clock.

"If successful, the cold atomic clocks will form the most precise time and frequency system in space, which should not lose one second in hundreds of millions of years," said Zhang Wei, director of the Utilization Development Center of Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The world's first cold atomic clock that operates in space was made by Chinese scientists. It was launched with the Tiangong-2 space lab in 2016, and has a margin of error of less than one second in 30 million years.

Now, through ground-based experiments, Chinese scientists have developed cold atomic clocks that are far more accurate than the Tiangong-2 version, according to Zhang.

The development of space cold atomic clock technology will contribute to higher-precision satellite positioning and navigation, and support fundamental physics research such as dark matter probes and gravitational wave detection, scientists explained.

Mengtian is made up with four cabins including the working cabin at the forefront connecting to the Tianhe core module in which astronauts can work and do their physical exercises, and interior scientific experiment cabinets are installed.

Moving further from the working cabin, there are payload cabin on the outside and airlock cabin on the inside. That is to say, there is a hidden cargo airlock cabin that will be used for cargo passage. And at the further end of the Mengtian, it is the module's resource cabin where the Sun-positioning device and flexible solar panels are installed.

To facilitate the supporting function for experiments outside the cabin, Mengtian has prepared as many as 37 payload installation spots on the exterior, providing services such as engineering, electronic as well as information technology support for those experiment to be carried out outside the cabin.

Mission insiders explained that if the airlock cabin on the Wentian lab module is the international airport that would be mainly used to support entry and exit of taikonauts, the airlock cabin on the Mengtian module will be the "international cargo port" for the robotic transfer of cargo and scientific payload.

Previously, to carry out experiment on the exterior of the space station cabin, it required taikonauts to conduct extravehicular activities (EVA), but efficiency was limited to the times that EVAs could be arranged and other factors such as the number of payloads and their size.

Now with the new cargo airlock on Mengtian and its unique payload transfer mechanics, cargo including experiment payload could smoothly enter and exit the cabinet automatically.

Such robotic cargo and payload transfer capability reaches 400 kilograms and the size of the cargo envelope for a single shipment reaches 1.15 meters x 1.2 meters x 0.9 meters, greatly increasing the efficiency and reducing the pressure of astronauts, enabling them to invest more time and energy to focus on interior scientific experimental activities.

Also to meet the demand for entry and exit of larger and heavier cargo, Mengtian has installed the country's first square shape port gate, whose width reaches 1.2 meters.

To maximize the use of the space workshop, Mengtian has also been designed to be able to release smaller cube satellites in orbit. Astronauts only needs to put those 100-kilogram-level micro spacecraft or cube satellites in different sizes into the releaser inside the Mengtian, and then the releaser could "throw" them like a pebble bow, realizing the low-cost entrance to space for these micro spacecraft and cube satellites in orbit.

Just like Wentian lab module, Mengtian has also taken the power solution into consideration to prepare for future more demanding in-orbit experiments. Mengtian is also equipped with giant flexible solar panels, each of which can extend some 138 square meters.

After the completion of the T-shape China Space Station, two pairs of such solar panels on Wentian and Mengtian modules could together generate nearly 1,000 Kilowatt hours of electricity per day, equivalent to the half-year consumption of a household, and according to the SAST, it will mean that the space station will be free of worries of using electricity.

Consolidate space power status with true openness

Only when the three modules complete assembly and form the T-shape structure in orbit, can we declare that we have achieved all preset goals; only when they complete the T-shape basic structure, can the power supply, information and thermal control systems deliver their best performances and support relatively larger-scale experiments, said Bai Linhou, deputy chief designer from the space station system at the China Academy of Spacecraft Technology, explaining why the feat was of great significance in the overall building of the China Space Station.

Bai told the Global Times that "the high building efficiency of the China Space Station is the direct evidence of China's great comprehensive national strength. It would be nearly impossible for any country to build a space station in the near-Earth orbit without the support of a strong national power."

Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert, told the Global Times that the completion of China's own space station which is a crucial platform to exploit space resources, will be a landmark event for not only manned space technology but for the field of space technology as a whole, and it will form a tremendous push to drive China to advance into a space power.

"China, following the USSR/ Russia, the US, will become the third country to pull off the feat, and more importantly, our space station technology is very advanced", Pang hailed.

China Space Station is about to complete the building of its ultimate T-structure including Tianhe core module with Mengtian and Wentian lab modules on the side, the weight of the three-module combination would exceed 60 tons; and if the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and Shenzhou manned spacecraft are counted all together, the mass weight of the China Space Station would be near 90 tons, Wei Dongxu, a space observer and TV commentator, told the Global Times.

It will mean China has built a platform that is capable of hosting a great number of in-orbit scientific experiments and accommodating astronauts with better life and working conditions, Wei said.

The Tiangong space station will also become a new platform on the basis of which China would explore and push forward deepened space cooperation, "Astronauts from friendly countries, in the future, would participate directly in missions onboard and our outcomes of space scientific experiment will be also shared with the rest of world", he said.

"The completion of the Tiangong Space Station is a significant technical achievement by China. The Chinese station may offer some stability at a time when the US and its partners will be undergoing a period of transition from the ISS to the development and use of commercial space stations," Mariel Borowitz, Associate Professor with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, the US, told the Global Times via email.

"The ultimate value of the Chinese station will also depend on the extent that it can be leveraged to conduct scientific research, as well as the extent that China is able to enable international engagement in this new platform," she said.

Bai revealed that China Space Station is currently drafting cooperation standards for rendezvous and docking as well as payload installation onboard, which then would be announced to the world.

"The China Space Station will always be an open platform for global cooperation, and China is drafting cooperation standards, for rendezvous, docking and payload installation, which is to be released to the whole world," Bai revealed.

Foreign spacecraft, or experimental payloads, as long as they are in line with our standards in designing their docking devices and make sure their safety meets our requirements, are all welcome to come onboard," Bai said.

In fact, China has repeatedly extended warm and sincere welcomes to international astronauts to the China Space Station.

Foreign astronauts are welcome to work in China's space station, Taikonaut Wang Yaping, also a delegate of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said during an interview at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 16.

China is implementing its first batch of international cooperation programs on board the Tiangong space station, and will hopefully upload those experiments by the end of the year. Foreign astronauts are welcome to Tiangong to make greater contributions to the shared future of mankind, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin remarked in April.

Although China has independently designed, built and launched the space station, it will be a real international space station, as China would invite more developing countries and European partners to use the space station together, said Song Zhongping, a space expert and TV commentator.

Song said it is also possible that China will train astronauts for certain other countries to facilitate their use of the China Space Station, and to become payload expert to carry out experiment in orbit. "That would mean that we are truly open to those countries that are friendly to China," he added.

The successful construction of its own space station would consolidate China's status as a space power, laying grounds for future deep-space exploration missions and forming the landscape of global space power with the US, China and Russia on the top, Song noted.

The completion of building of the space station will be a milestone in China's space technology development and drive all-around development for a variety of fundamental industries and stimulate new applications such as space breeding and new materials, Song added. 

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China Just Won the Space Race Against America...NASA is in Shock!

 China Space Station Tian Gong is now complete and China is in a position to dominate the future of space and replace America as the number one space nation in the world. But how did this happen? How did China become a supreme space nation? Let's break it down 

 

Hua Chunying 华春莹 @SpokespersonCHN

·

Congratulations to the successful launch of the #Mengtian lab module! Mengtian, which means "Dreaming of the Heavens", will be the "dream factory" of China's space station.

 

 

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How Britain fell from grace

 

British Prime Minister Liz Truss enjoyed only seven days of full power before global economic forces effectively destroyed her government. PHOTO: REUTERS

 

 

Whatever you may think of them, the British used to enjoy the reputation of a solid, well-run and responsible nation.

A centuries-old history of peaceful political change, with none of the coups, revolutions or civil wars that seem to have afflicted most other countries worldwide. A robust parliamentary system of government in which just two political parties take their turns in holding power based on electoral procedures that produce clear-cut results and solid governments with none of the unpredictable and often unstable coalition-making that afflicts most of the rest of Europe.

To be sure, the country’s politicians have always been of variable quality. But the United Kingdom’s civil service was highly rated for its professionalism and integrity, and so was its legal system, still considered an advantage and often touted as a national asset by many countries around the world.

That’s why Britain’s sudden descent into crisis looks so surprising. In just a few weeks, the credibility of some of the most critical institutions in British national life, including the prime minister, the Treasury, the Bank of England, the ruling Conservative Party, and the nation’s asset management industry, were all torn to shreds.

The country’s currency has sunk to its lowest levels in half a century, and the risk premium international investors demand to lend money to Britain is among the highest in the industrialised world.

For the first time in modern history, the British government was forced to bow to the pressure of global financial markets and withdraw a budget it had introduced only two weeks beforehand. And in another highly unusual move, the International Monetary Fund issued a rebuke to Britain using language otherwise reserved for those who manage the economies of poor and vulnerable developing nations.

Truss versus lettuce

Consequently, British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who assumed office only last month, had to ditch her policies before these were even tried, and the speculation in London is that her days are numbered.

The influential Economist newspaper had pointed out that, if one ignores the extended period of official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II – a period during which all politics were suspended – Ms Truss enjoyed only seven days of full power before the forces of the global economy effectively destroyed her government. That, The Economist suggested, is more or less the supermarket “shelf-life of the lettuce”.

Liz Truss may never recover from this cruel jibe: a British tabloid newspaper is currently offering its readers a live video stream of a lettuce head and a photograph of the Prime Minister, accompanied by the question, “which wet lettuce will last longer?”

Britain as a whole is now the butt of international jokes. Politicians in Italy – a country that will soon get its 70th government in almost as many years – have suggested that one of their retired prime ministers may be sent to London to try his hand at managing the British because he can’t do any worse than Britain’s politicians.

Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Greece, a country that a decade ago had to be bailed out from national bankruptcy by global financial institutions, told Ms Truss’ government tongue-in-cheek that if they “need experience in dealing with the International Monetary Fund, we’re here to help”.

While the attention is on the UK experience, other economies and major currencies are also currently experiencing global pressure. The British pound may be down around 18 per cent to 20 per cent, but the euro is about 15 per cent weaker, and the Chinese renminbi dropped by an average of 11 per cent against the US dollar. The Bank of Japan recently spent an estimated US$21 billion (S$30 billion) trying to prop up the yen, to no avail.

However, credibility is everything in politics, finance and economics, and the UK government finally managed to lose all of these. Britain’s previously admired institutional framework and its hard-won reputation of certainty in financial policy went down the pan over the past two weeks.

And financial volatility is accompanied by political volatility. Between 1990 and 2010 – two decades – Britain was ruled by only three prime ministers. But from 2010 to now - just over one decade - the country has already known four additional prime ministers and may yet be ready for a fifth. Furthermore, no less than four politicians have served as finance ministers since January this year. These are chaotic politics Italian-style, minus the sun-drenched beaches or the delicious pasta.

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‘Cakeism’ and Brexit

How did Britain get to this sorry state? A mixture of immediate failures by the Truss administration, magnified by a much more entrenched malaise.

Ms Truss won power by resorting to the oldest trick in politics: a promise that voters can have their cake and eat it. She vowed to cut taxes and increase spending, all based on borrowing from financial markets. And she dismissed the arguments of armies of economists who pointed out that hers was not an economic policy but a fantasy.

The more she faced criticism, the more she doubled down on her promises; her pledge to cut taxes became a test of wills, which she was determined to win. So, her ill-fated budget slashed taxes much further than anyone expected and sidelined Britain’s financial regulator and the country’s civil servants.

Ms Truss quickly discovered that one should not attempt to offer a spending bonanza against the backdrop of sharply rising inflation and interest rates, a punishing global energy crisis, as well as a British current account deficit which ballooned to an unprecedented 8 per cent of gross domestic product, and all without providing any indication of how Britain intends to deal with its public finances. The Prime Minister not only ran into a flat rejection by the financial markets, she unleashed a financial rout that could only be addressed by withdrawing her entire budget.

The problem of Ms Truss was not necessarily just the financial figures she peddled but the fact that her ill-conceived budget became totemic for a more comprehensive loss of British political and economic credibility, which has been cumulative over several years. 

 

The chief culprit is Brexit, as the British withdrawal from the European Union is popularly known. The damage that Brexit inflicted on the British economy - in terms of lower growth rates, lower exports and slashed inward investment – is by now well-documented.

But a much more severe impact on British credibility has been the conduct of the country’s political elite during this divorce process from the rest of Europe. The campaign to withdraw from the EU was conducted with lies; those who supported Brexit produced made-up figures about how Britain’s trade with the rest of the world would, supposedly, more than compensate for the loss of duty-free access to European markets.

And anyone who dared contradict the Brexiters by providing actual economic facts and figures was dismissed as part of so-called “project fear”, an alleged plot by the “establishment” to keep Britain shackled to Europe.

The tactic worked not only in pulling Britain out of the EU; it also spawned an entirely new class of British politicians who believe that all they need to do is to ram their policies through regardless of what the economic realities may be and if the facts don’t accord with their views, present “alternative facts”.

During the campaign that propelled her to power, Ms Truss refused to engage in any serious discussion with the critics of her economic policy, just as Mr Boris Johnson, her predecessor as prime minister, declined to explain how Britain would thrive outside the EU. Both politicians operated on the assumption that make-believe economics can become real economics.

And the reason people like them can come to power is to be found in another negative development of British politics.

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Who chooses the party leader?

For many decades, the Conservatives and Labour – the country’s two major historic parties – were mass movements, counting millions of members. But the election of the party leaders who could then become prime ministers was left in the hands of the few, usually just the MPs in either party.

Over the past 15 years, however, mass party membership disappeared: Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, for instance, has far more paid-up members than all the political parties combined.

Yet, curiously, the choice of who gets elected as party leader was taken from MPs and given to the parties’ entire membership. The result is that an unrepresentative group of party members – in the case of the ruling Conservatives, only around 160,000 people out of a total population of 68 million – decides who would rule Britain.

If it were left to the MPs alone, Ms Truss would have got nowhere near the Downing Street residence of British prime ministers. But she won on a platform of economic fantasies sold to people who wanted to believe in the enduring myth of having something for nothing.

Ultimately, it was left to the global financial markets to confront Britain with the rude awakening it deserves by presenting the country and its daydreaming politicians with the invoice for their mismanagement.

It’s improbable that Ms Truss will ever recover from its current debacle; the only question is whether the humiliation the UK has just experienced at the hands of global financial markets will bring to an end the age of untruthful politics that has so devalued the country’s administration.

But it won’t be easy to get out of this rut. King Charles III best summed up the national mood when he recently welcomed Prime Minister Truss to an audience with “dear, oh dear!

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STROKE PREVENTION, EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY; Recognising the warning signs of stroke; Caring for a stroke survivor

12 Minutes Simple Massage to Prevent a Stroke Attack - Taught by a Renowned Professor

 This week I would like to show you 5 Simple Massage techniques that can help to prevent a possible stroke attack. This is particularly important for people who are in the higher risk categories, such as with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes etc.

Next week I will then talk about how to spot a stroke so we can react quickly.

ABOUT DR. ALEX HUI Dr. Alex Hui (Dr.TCM, R.TCM.P, R.Ac.) is a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Registered Acupuncturist, Registered TCM Herbalist, Qi Gong and Tai Chi Practitioner. Besides clinical practice, Dr. Hui also focuses on health education and promoting Traditional Chinese Medicine via online platforms.

CONNECT WITH DR. ALEX HUI

Blog: https://www.alexhui.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrAlexHui 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Dr.AlexHui/

 

DISCLAIMER:
All contents of this video (including information, graphics, texts, links, and comments) is for general information and demonstration purposes only. No information is intended to nor implied to be medical advice. This video does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Alex Hui and you. The content is not a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Consult with your healthcare professional before implementing any remedies, or any information from this video. The contents of this video are used at your own risk.

#ChineseMedicine #Medicine #Health #Stroke #StrokePrevention #Massage #PreventionIsBetterThanCure 

 EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY; Recognising the warning signs of stroke; Caring for a stroke survivor

 https://www.saebo.com/

 https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/5463213

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/5463213/Exercise%20PDF%20-%20US%20FINAL%202019.pdf?_ga=2.69067538.2046585752.1666698163-1152772136.1666698163

Download

 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Stroke Exercises For Your Body 4
Arm Exercises 8
Balance Exercises 14
Core Exercises 20
Hand Exercises 27
3 Evidence-Based Steps for Recovering Hand Function 31
Leg Exercises 32
Shoulder Exercises 39
Reclaim Your Independence 45
No Plateau In Sight 46

 

 
ARM EXERCISES
A stroke can often make it difficult to perform simple tasks
like moving the arm forward or grasping and releasing
objects. Physiotherapist Simbarashe Shawe recommends
eight simple exercises to help restore strength and
function in the arms of stroke survivors.

 

 https://www.saebo.com/blog/reclaim-your-strength-with-arm-exercises-for-stroke-recovery/?utm_source=ExerciseGuide&utm_medium=DownloadablePDF&utm_campaign=DownloadableExercisePDFUS2019

 

 Basic Arm Exercises

 Strokes are a frightening, life-threatening medical condition, but once you begin recovering you will experience the impact on your quality of life caused by neurological damage. It’s possible to retrain the brain to make up for this damage, but you must keep the affected muscle groups active. These basic level exercises are a starting point to add flexibility and mobility to your affected arm after a stroke.

 

 

 

Intermediate Arm Exercises

Once you have gained basic flexibility in the wrist, hand, and inner arm, you are ready to work on a full range of motion for these joints. These intermediate-level exercises, which work well in conjunction with SaeboMAS and SaeboReach, can be the key to recovering the use of your arms. They help retrain the brain to make up for the neurological damage you have suffered

Advanced Arm Exercises 
Muscles damaged due to a stroke are often weakened, mainly due to inactivity. This is why at-home exercise is so important. Once you have regained range of motion in your arm and wrist, you are ready to begin strengthening the muscles with these advanced exercises.

 

 
BALANCE EXERCISES
Struggling to walk or stumbling frequently is a common problem
for stroke survivors, as the neurological components of balance
have been damaged. Fortunately, balance is an ability that can be
relearned after a stroke through therapy, rehabilitative products,
and at-home exercises. Physiotherapists Beth Thornton and Kathryn
Smyth suggest nine exercises to help regain stability and balance

STROKE EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY15

Basic Balance Exercises
Basic level exercises for balance may seem simple at first, but they require
strong neural connections to successfully complete. Start with these simple
exercises as you work to rewire your mental processes. The repeated actions will build mental connections that can help restore balance. Remember, always hold onto something during balance exercises to keep yourself from falling.

 

 

 Intermediate Balance Exercises

STROKE EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY16
The intermediate level exercises use the same basic ideas as the basic exercises, but without something to hold onto. After practicing the basic level exercises for a while, you should be able to perform them without assistance. However, for safety, always have a counter or chair nearby to grab if you start to lose your balance.

 

 

 

Advanced Balance Exercises

STROKE EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY18
Once you start noticing improved balance, do not stop exercising. You are still building those connections. Now it’s time to move on to advanced level exercises.

 

 

 

CORE EXERCISES
While the focus of stroke recovery is often on the limbs and facial muscles, without a strong core, the rest of the body may suffer. By isolating and activating core muscles with nine exercises selected by Thornton and Smyth,stroke survivors can work to regain coordination and strength that benefits their whole body.

Watch Core Exercises That Build Strength and Coordination:

https://www.saebo.com/blog/reclaim-your-stability-with-core-exercises-for-stroke-recovery/?utm_source=ExerciseGuide&utm_medium=DownloadablePDF&utm_campaign=DownloadableExercisePDFUS2019

Basic Core Exercises

 STROKE EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY21
Strokes are life-threatening events that can cause irreversible neurological
damage, so the recovery period is as much about retraining the brain as it is about strengthening the muscles. To regain use of your core muscles, you must keep them active in order to create the brain connections you need to improve after a stroke.

 

 

 

STROKE EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY23
Once you begin building some strength, you are ready to progress in your exercise practice. These intermediate exercises will challenge a larger number of coremuscles and build even more strength.
 

Intermediate Core Exercises

 

 

STROKE EXERCISES FOR YOUR BODY25
As you continue to develop your core muscles, you will be ready to add more intensity. These advanced exercises increase the intensity of the intermediate exercises so you can regain a strong, healthy core.
 

Advanced Core Exercises

 

HAND EXERCISES
When stroke survivors lose function and dexterity in the
hands, simple daily tasks can seem like insurmountable
obstacles. Sarah Lyon, occupational therapist, advocates
three simple, at-home exercises to help stroke survivors
regain the use of their hands.

 
Watch Hand Exercises That Will Strengthen Your Grip:

https://www.saebo.com/blog/reclaim-your-dexterity-with-hand-exercises-for-stroke-recovery/?utm_source=ExerciseGuide&utm_medium=DownloadablePDF&utm_campaign=DownloadableExercisePDFUS2019

 Basic Hand Exercise
A stroke often affects the ability of the brain to communicate with other areas of the body. While some of the neurological damage to the brain after a stroke is irreversible, it’s possible to retrain some parts of the brain to take over the movements and activities once controlled in the damaged section. If you are struggling to move your hands, start with this basic-level exercise, aimed at helping your brain re-learn how to control the most basic hand movements. If you are struggling to make a fist and release it, the SaeboGlove and SaeboFlex can help with positioning and reopening as you build up control with this simple exercise.

 

If you’ve mastered making and releasing a fist and feel that some strength is returning to your hand, then you are ready to move towards building the range of motion of the fingers themselves. This intermediate level exercise helps achieve that goal.

Intermediate Hand Exercise

Once you can successfully make and open a fist and spread your fingers from side to side, you are ready to try Lyon’s third and final exercise: Tip to Tip. This advanced exercise focuses on adding dexterity to the strength and flexibility you have already mastered.

 

Advanced Level Hand Exercise

LEG EXERCISES
Difficulties standing and walking after a stroke can be related to balance problems, but leg strength and mobility are also  contributing factors. Richard Sealy recommends a series of low-impact strength and stretching exercises to help regain muscle in the legs and improve range of motion during stroke recovery.

Basic Leg Excercises

Following a stroke, simple actions, like standing and walking, become difficult to perform because balance, coordination, and strength, have all changed. Exercises focusing on standing, balance, and the weakened muscles in your core and hips are vital to you regaining your quality of life after stroke. Try these Basic Leg Exercises to help restore your ability to perform functional tasks in standing. Always remember to hold on to a table  or other similarly stable surface to avoid a fall

 

 

 

As you practice and perform your repetitive exercises, your neural connections are growing, and the exercises become more effortless. When you can complete the Basic Leg Exercises without struggling, it is time to move on to the Intermediate Leg Exercises. These exercises require more balance and coordination and will challenge many parts of your lower body. Please remember to hold on to a stable surface and perform your exercises safely to avoid a fall.
 

Intermediate Leg Excercises

 

 

As you perform your Intermediate Leg Exercises regularly, they will become easier. At the point when your strength, balance, and coordination have all improved, and you have minimal risk of falling, we recommend you move on to the Advanced Leg Exercises. Please continue to be safe with your exercises to avoid a fall. Don’t forget to be performing functional tasks around the house, work, etc. as this will help you improve your strength, balance, and coordination, even faster.
 

Advanced Leg Excercises

 

Recognising the warning signs of stroke

Prof.Dr. Badrayah Idris

STROKE is the third leading cause of male mortality and the second leading cause of female mortality in Malaysia. On average, there are about 90 stroke admissions at Malaysian hospitals daily. Almost 70% of stroke survivors live with many disabilities.

MSU Medical Centre medical director and consultant neurosurgeon Prof Dr Badrisyah Idris explains, “Occurring in 80% of stroke cases, ischaemic stroke is owed to a narrowing of blood vessels by fat deposits or blood clots that disrupt the blood supply to the brain. The remaining 20% is owed to ruptured blood vessels caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure or a weakened blood vessel wall.

“Depending on the affected brain area, stroke survivors may suffer from memory and emotional disturbances, or be challenged by speech, vision,

sensory or movement difficulties. In a transient ischaemic attack, commonly called a mini-stroke, the symptoms hit for only a few minutes or hours and then disappear. Though the brain supply is interrupted momentarily, the chance of getting a permanent stroke within 48 hours raises tenfold and the risk remains high within three months.

“With increasing age, the likelihood of getting an ischaemic stroke rises with the increased narrowing of the blood vessels. Other factors leading to stroke include smoking, obesity, alcoholism, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and high blood sugar. Lifestyle changes and treatment optimisation may reduce the risk of getting a stroke.”

Medical treatment within three hours after the onset of stroke is needed to reduce the damage to the brain. Tools such as BE FAST help society recognise the onset of stroke and reduce death and disability from delayed stroke treatment.

● B – Balancing difficulties

● E – Eye and vision disturbances ● F – Facial weakness

● A – Arm or leg weakness

● S – Speech difficulties 

● T – Time to call an ambulance 

Upon reaching the hospital, a doctor will establish the circumstances leading to the stroke by recording its history and then performing a physical examination to identify the risks and associated deficits.

A brain scan will be performed to determine whether the stroke is ischaemic or haemorrhagic and

which part of the brain is involved. An angiography may be performed to assess the brain’s blood flow pattern and blood vessel structure.

For ischaemic strokes, restoring blood flow to the affected area is crucial and should be carried out within four hours of the stroke’s onset. This can be done by injecting a blood-thinning medication called alteplase into a vein in the arm to dissolve blood clots inside the brain’s blood vessels.

Endovascular therapy is another technique used to dissolve the blood clot by directly injecting alteplase through a small catheter placed inside the affected blood vessel, or by retrieving the blood clot with a special device through a catheter placed inside the affected blood vessel.

For haemorrhagic strokes, the main goal of treatment is to control bleeding and reduce the increased pressure in the brain. The high blood pressure has to be controlled by antihypertensive drugs and the effect of the blood-thinning medication has to be reversed to reduce further bleeding. Ruptured blood vessels caused by cerebral aneurysms or arteriovenous malformations need to be treated by surgical intervention or endovascular therapy.

The prevention of stroke involves lifestyle modifications such as controlling one’s high blood pressure and blood sugar level, consuming a low-fat diet that includes fruits and vegetables, avoiding smoking or tobacco use, and staying active through exercise, jogging or hiking. 

 

Caring for a stroke survivor 

 

TAKING care of a person who is recovering from a major stroke requires your full attention and some changes have to be made to accommodate them.

Before a stroke survivor comes home, make sure the home is fall-proof. For instance, if the survivor’s bedroom was previously on the second floor, make a bedroom available downstairs for the survivor so he will not have to climb the stairs daily. You will also need to make sure that the room is fully equipped, and ideally, has a wide floor space.

You may also want to prevent falls by installing grab bars, seats and non-slip bathmats in the bathroom and shower place.

Physiotherapy exercises consisting of sit to stands, knee rotations and supported mini squats are essential to strengthen the stroke survivor’s leg muscles and improve endurance when walking and rising up from a seated position. Crumpling a piece of paper and supporting reach and grasp are additional exercises that will help stroke survivors regain movement in their hands and shoulder muscles.

Get advice from an occupational therapist on what types of clothing and material are suitable for a stroke survivor.

A pull-over is a much better option than a button-down shirt as it is easier to get in and out of than the latter. Pants, skirts and jeans with elastic waistbands are good options while loose clothing with silky material are highly recommended.

If a stroke survivor is on medication, it is advisable for you to pack sufficient medicines to last them through unexpected delays in your cabin luggage. Having a prescription letter in hand is also a good idea. If anything were to happen, treating doctors can use it as a referral.

Making frequent pit stops, especially during long travelling hours by car is one of the best ways to ensure the comfort of stroke survivors. Use routes that have rest stops along the way and plan for toilet breaks at least every two hours.

Changing the diet of a stroke survivor is vital to avoid a second stroke attack. Stroke survivors need to cut back on salt as it is directly related to high blood pressure. Salt-free seasonings such as herbs and spices are better options to add flavour to their meals.

You must make sure survivors are cutting back on meat and dairy products and encourage them to eat more vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

Taking care of a stroke survivor requires a lot of patience from your side and it is no secret that it is time-consuming. 

 

Fortis Healthcare

Stroke: Myths and facts

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