Stroke

About Stroke

Stroke (clinically termed a cerebrovascular accident) is an acute neurovascular medical emergency caused by an abrupt interruption of blood supply to a specific region of the brain, depriving neural tissue of oxygen and nutrients and causing rapid neuronal death.

Depending on whether the stroke is caused by a blocked vessel or a ruptured artery, the localized brain damage disrupts normal neurological function across four core domains:

Motor & Physical Deficits: Sudden weakness or paralysis, typically occurring on one side of the body (hemiparesis or hemiplegia); facial drooping; impaired gait and balance (ataxia); spasticity; and difficulty swallowing (dysphagia).

Communication & Speech Disturbances: Language impairment resulting from damage to brain speech centers, including expressive or receptive aphasia (difficulty producing or understanding speech) and dysarthria (slurred, physically impaired speech).

Cognitive & Visual Impairments: Lags in processing speed, executive dysfunction, spatial-perceptual deficits, memory loss, visual field cuts (e.g., losing half the field of vision in both eyes), or unilateral neglect (unawareness of one side of space).

Emotional & Behavioral Shifts: Emotional lability (uncontrollable emotional outbursts or pseudobulbar affect), apathy, heightened anxiety, post-stroke depression, and subtle shifts in personality or impulse control.

Frequency: In the United States, more than 795,000 people experience a stroke each year. Approximately 610,000 of these annual cases are first or new strokes. About 185,000—nearly 1 in 4—occur in people who have previously had a stroke. This equates to someone in the U.S. having a stroke roughly every 40 seconds.

Age Distribution: Stroke risk is heavily dictated by age, with a steep increase occurring after age 65. Stroke incidence rates are higher in women than men at younger ages (under 30). During midlife, men have higher rates, and then stroke risk becomes equal or higher for women beginning in their eighth decade.

Gender Differences: Women face a higher lifetime risk of stroke, with an estimated 1 in 4 risk after the age of 25. Women are typically 5 years older on average when they experience a stroke and frequently suffer more severe strokes than men

Race & Ethnicity: Stroke risk and outcomes vary significantly across racial and ethnic groups. While White Americans have a lower relative risk, Black Americans are 50% more likely to have a stroke, and Black men are 70% more likely to die from one—largely driven by hypertension, which accounts for over 45% of young adult stroke cases in this group. Hispanic/Latino Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives also face disproportionately higher stroke rates and earlier onset of cardiovascular risk factors compared to Non-Hispanic Whites. Additionally, while overall risk varies among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, certain subgroups experience higher rates of hemorrhagic stroke and elevated hypertension risks.

Types and classifications

• Stroke is categorized into three types
• Ischemic Stroke: The most common type (roughly 87% of cases), caused by a blood clot or fatty plaque blocking an artery leading to the brain.
• Hemorrhagic Stroke: Occurs when a weakened blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into or surrounding the brain, creating damaging pressure on brain tissue (often caused by high blood pressure or aneurysms).
• Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA): A temporary disruption of blood flow that does not result in permanent tissue death, often called a "mini-stroke". [1, 2]
• Functional practitioners and functional neurologists do not redefine the fundamental medical categories of a vascular stroke, accepting the standard cerebrovascular definitions (Ischemic, Hemorrhagic, and TIA), while focusing on metabolic drivers and nervous system rehabilitation for treatment. Functional medicine practitioners define the antecedents of these strokes by looking at root causes like chronic inflammation, blood sugar dysregulation, insulin resistance, and hypertension. Functional neurologists look at the aftermath, viewing a stroke not just as dead tissue, but as an alteration in network communication. They evaluate surviving, damaged, or adjacent areas to retrain neural pathways using targeted, non-invasive sensory and vestibular stimulation based on neuroplasticity.

Symptoms associated in the NPA database

The NPA Treatment Database groups the following symptom information with Stroke. This list is educational and is not a diagnostic checklist.

Treatment information in the database

The NPA Treatment Database lists 51 treatment records in connection with Stroke. A database relationship does not establish that a treatment is effective, safe, or appropriate for any individual.

• Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI)
• Burke Rehabilitation ICAP
• Cogmed Working Memory Training
• Connect Listening (previously The Listening Center)
• Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT)
• Dr. Antonucci Functional Neurology (Concussion & Neurorehab)
• EksoNR (Ekso Bionics)
• Expiratory Muscle Strength Training (EMST)
• Functional & Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (FES/NMES)
• Graded Motor Imagery (GMI)
• Human Echolocation
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
• Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programs (ICAP)
• Interactive Metronome (IM)
• KAATSU / Blood Flow Restriction Training
• LearningRx
• Lee Silverman LSVT BIG
• LiveO2 (Adaptive Contrast Oxygen Training)
• Lokomat (Hocoma)
• LSVT LOUD
• Meditation / Mindfulness
• Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT)
• Mind-Eye Institute
• MindMaze (MindMotion VR)
• Mindset Reframing
• Mirror Box Therapy
• Music and Art Therapy
• Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) / Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS)
• Neuroworx
• Paired Vagus Nerve Stimulation (Vivistim)
• Phagenyx / Pharyngeal Electrical Stimulation
• Photobiomodulation (PBM) / Professionally Delivered Red/Near-Infrared Light Therapy
• Plasticity Brain Center
• PoNS™ (Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator)
• Prism Adaptation Therapy
• ReWalk
• Robotic and Exoskeleton Gait Training
• Sensory Substitution
• Shirley Ryan AbilityLab ICAP
• Specialized Neurorehabilitation Centers and Hospitals
• Task-Specific Training
• The Recovery Project
• Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
• Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS)
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)
• Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT)
• Virtual Reality (VR) Therapy
• Vision Therapy / Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation
• XRHealth
• Yoga

Related questions

These controlled question pages use the same stored condition and treatment relationships.

• What treatments are listed for Stroke in the NPA database?

Recommended reading listed by NPA

These titles come from the current NPA condition record. Structured citation details are not yet available.

• Don't Leave Me This Way: Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry by Julia Fox Garrison — A witty, determined survivor's story of fighting for better care and reclaiming her life after stroke.
• Finding Yourself After Stroke: Young Survivors' Stories of Courage and Resilience by Letisha Living — A collection of young stroke survivors' experiences that highlight courage, adaptation, and renewed purpose.
• Getting Your Brain & Body Back: Everything You Need to Know After Spinal Cord Injury, Stroke, or Traumatic Brain Injury by Brad Berk, MD — A physician's practical guide, written from personal experience, covering recovery strategies for stroke, TBI, and SCI.
• Healing the Broken Brain: Leading Experts Answer 100 Questions About Stroke Recovery by Mike Dow, Psy.D., Ph.D. & David Dow with Megan Sutton, CCC-SLP — Clear answers from leading clinicians and a stroke survivor on the most common questions about recovery, therapy, and hope.
• Hope After Stroke: The Holistic Guide to Getting Your Life Back by Tsgoyna Tanzman, MA/CCC-SLP — A speech-language pathologist's holistic roadmap covering communication, emotional healing, and practical strategies for life after stroke.
• Identity Theft: Rediscovering Ourselves After Stroke by Debra E. Meyerson, PhD with Danny Zuckerman — A Stanford professor's personal account of rebuilding identity and purpose after a stroke that left her unable to speak or walk.
• Left of Tomorrow: An Inspirational Narrative of Stroke Survival by Wendy Lyons — An uplifting personal narrative that enlightens and encourages others navigating the long road of stroke recovery.
• My Lucky Stroke: How I Lost My Identity and Rebuilt Myself from Scratch by Sarah Brooker — An inspiring memoir of losing and reconstructing identity after a devastating stroke.
• My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD — A neuroanatomist's vivid firsthand description of her stroke and the insights it gave her into brain recovery and the dual nature of consciousness.
• Rebuilding Life After Brain Injury by Sheena McDonald, Allan Little & Gail Robinson — Lived experience and professional insight into reconstructing daily life and relationships after serious brain injury.
• Stronger After Stroke: Your Roadmap to Recovery by Peter G. Levine — A practical, evidence-based guide to maximizing recovery through intensive practice and understanding the brain's capacity to rewire after stroke.
• The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge — Landmark exploration of neuroplasticity featuring dramatic recoveries from stroke, brain injury, and other neurological challenges.
• The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge — Shows how light, sound, vibration, and movement can awaken the brain's self-healing capacities after injury and illness.