The experience of recovery following lacunar stroke.

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the experience of recovery following stroke. A longitudinal, descriptive ethnography formed the basis of the study described in this article, in which 120 interviews were conducted over a period of 6 months with 13 individuals who had experienced lacunar infarcts of the internal capsule of the brain. Participants were interviewed within 72 hours of the infarct and during the acute and rehabilitation phases of recovery. This article discusses the experience of the recovering body and plateaus in this recovery, as well as the phenomena of experimentation with tasks, transformation by familiar surroundings, and sequential focus on involved limbs.