Welcome to DIY Recovery Post Stroke
Welcome to DIY Recovery Post Stroke! A place created to provide practical education, encouragement, and guidance for stroke survivors and the people who support them.
As an occupational therapist with 25 years of experience, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside countless stroke survivors and their families throughout different stages of recovery. I’ve also seen firsthand how overwhelming recovery can feel, especially when therapy ends, questions arise, and you’re left wondering, What do I do now?
That’s why I created DIY Recovery Post Stroke. My goal is to help make stroke recovery a little easier to understand and navigate by sharing practical information, exercises, strategies, and resources that can help you feel more confident taking the next step.
Wherever you are in your recovery journey, I hope this becomes a trusted place you can return to whenever you have questions, need encouragement, or simply want practical guidance for what comes next.
You don’t have to have everything figured out today. Start where you are, explore what you need, and take it one step at a time.
Your Stroke Recovery Roadmap
Stroke recovery looks different for everyone. You may be preparing to leave the hospital, adjusting to life at home, working with home health or outpatient therapy, or continuing your recovery months or even years after your stroke.
No matter where you are in the process, it can be difficult to know what to focus on next. Your Stroke Recovery Roadmap is designed to help you find information, exercises, and resources that are most relevant to where you are right now.
Start with the stage that best describes where you are today. You can always come back as your needs change and your recovery continues.
Preparing to Go Home
You’re getting ready to leave the hospital or rehabilitation facility and want to feel more prepared for what comes next.
The First Days & Weeks at Home
You’re adjusting to being home and figuring out safety, routines, exercises, caregiving, and everyday life after stroke.
Continuing Your Recovery
You’re working to build strength, movement, balance, independence, and confidence as you continue therapy and recovery at home.
The Long-Term Recovery Journey
You’re months or years into recovery and looking for ways to keep making progress, adapt to ongoing challenges, and continue building the life that matters to you.
Choose Your Path
Everyone comes to stroke recovery from a different perspective. Whether you’re navigating your own recovery, supporting someone you care about, or helping others through your work, I’ve created this space to make it easier to find the information and resources that are most relevant to you.
Choose the path that best describes you.
I’m a Stroke Survivor
Find practical exercises, education, and strategies to help you better understand your stroke recovery, work toward greater independence, and continue making progress at home.
I’m a Caregiver or Family Member
Find practical guidance to help you safely support someone you care about while navigating the challenges, questions, and changes that can come with life after stroke.
I’m a Healthcare Professional
Explore practical stroke recovery education, exercises, and resources that may be helpful when educating and supporting the stroke survivors and families you work with.
Explore Stroke Recovery Topics
Stroke recovery involves so much more than any one exercise or area of the body. From rebuilding strength and movement to improving balance, managing changes in vision or thinking, returning to everyday activities, and adjusting to life after stroke, there can be a lot to navigate.
Explore the topics below to find practical education, exercises, strategies, and resources to support you along the way.
Arm & Hand Recovery
Explore exercises and practical strategies for improving arm and hand movement, managing weakness and tightness, protecting your shoulder, and using your affected arm during everyday activities.
Leg Strength, Walking, & Balance
Find exercises and strategies to improve leg strength, sitting and standing balance, mobility, transfers, and your ability to move more safely and confidently.
Daily Activities & Independence
Explore practical ways to improve independence with everyday activities like dressing, bathing, toileting, cooking, and moving around your home and community.
Understanding Stroke Symptoms
Learn more about common challenges after stroke such as weakness, spasticity, fatigue, neglect, vision changes, balance problems, changes in thinking, and strategies that may help.
Life After Stroke
Explore the parts of recovery that go beyond exercise, including motivation, emotional well-being, relationships, returning to meaningful activities, and adjusting to the changes that can come with life after stroke.
Caregiver Support
Find practical information and guidance to help family members and caregivers better understand stroke recovery, support greater independence and safety, and navigate the challenges of caring for someone after a stroke.
Free Recovery Resources
Sometimes having the right information in a simple, easy-to-use format can make recovery feel a little more manageable. I’m creating a growing library of free printable resources designed to help stroke survivors and caregivers stay organized, track progress, build routines, prepare for important conversations, and navigate everyday life after stroke.
These resources are here to give you practical tools you can use throughout your recovery journey—at home, during therapy, and as your needs change over time.
Free Resources Coming Soon
I’m currently working on the first collection of DIY Recovery Post Stroke printable resources. Check back soon as new tools and downloads are added to the Resource Library.
Watch & Learn
Sometimes it’s easier to understand an exercise or recovery strategy when you can actually see it demonstrated. That’s why video education is such an important part of DIY Recovery Post Stroke.
On the DIY Recovery Post Stroke YouTube channel, you’ll find practical stroke recovery exercises, education, and strategies designed to help stroke survivors and caregivers better understand recovery and feel more confident navigating life after stroke.
Whether you’re looking for an exercise to try at home, trying to better understand a challenge you’re experiencing, or simply looking for encouragement along the way, I hope you’ll find something there that helps.
Watch The Latest Videos
Explore the latest DIY Recovery Post Stroke videos, or browse by topic to find the information that’s most relevant to you.
Stay Connected
Stroke recovery can be a long journey, but you don’t have to navigate every step on your own. DIY Recovery Post Stroke is here to be a place you can return to whenever you have questions, need practical guidance, want to learn something new, or simply need a little encouragement along the way.
Stay connected for new stroke recovery videos, practical education, free resources, and tools designed to help you and the people who support you continue moving forward.
My hope is that DIY Recovery Post Stroke becomes a trusted place you can return to whenever you need it and that each time you visit, you leave feeling a little more informed, a little more hopeful, and a little less alone.
Join the DIY Recovery Post Stroke Community
More ways to stay connected are coming soon. In the meantime, you can follow DIY Recovery Post Stroke on YouTube for new videos, exercises, education, and practical strategies to support recovery at home.