Leg compressions may enhance stroke recovery

Health Canal: 8/27/12

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Successive, vigorous bouts of leg compressions following a stroke appear to trigger natural protective mechanisms that reduce damage, researchers report.

Compressing then releasing the leg for several five-minute intervals used in conjunction with the clot-buster tPA, essentially doubles efficacy, said Dr. David Hess, a stroke specialist who chairs theMedical College of Georgia Department of Neurology at Georgia Health Sciences University.

“This is potentially a very cheap, usable and safe – other than the temporary discomfort – therapy for stroke,” said Hess, an author of the study in the journal Stroke. The compressions can be administered with a blood pressure cuff in the emergency room during preparation for tPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, currently the only Food and Drug Administration-approved stroke therapy.

“Much like preparation to run a marathon, you are getting yourself ready, you are conditioning your body to survive a stroke,” Hess said of a technique that could also be used in an ambulance or at a small, rural hospital.

For the studies Dr. Nasrul Hoda, an MCG research scientist and the study’s corresponding author, developed an animal model with a clot in the internal carotid artery, the most common cause of stroke. Read more