Good luck and experimental therapy may have helped U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk recover more extensively than he would have with standard care after he suffered a stroke in January.
The 52-year-old is making excellent progress, according to medical experts not involved in his care who watched a video released this week by the Illinois Republican's office. Kirk is seen in the video climbing stairs and walking on a treadmill with a therapist's help.
Kirk credits lead researcher and physical therapist T. George Hornby at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, whose work may change standard therapy for stroke patients. During Kirk's nine weeks participating in Hornby's research, he walked nearly 15 miles and climbed 145 flights of stairs.
"We basically treat them like athletes," said Hornby, who is testing what happens when stroke patients walk 10 times farther than they would in a standard physical therapy session.
Instead of walking once down an unobstructed hallway, for example, a patient is asked to walk around obstacles, to walk while things are bumping into him and to climb stairs. "We're really pushing them to the limit on how hard they can work," the researcher said.
First to enroll in the new Hornby-led study, Kirk was randomized into the experimental arm of the trial, rather than into the control group of patients who got standard therapy for comparison, Hornby said.
That was pure luck, said Hornby, who said he felt no pressure to make sure Kirk got the experimental therapy and he believes Kirk would have stuck with the study if he had been randomly placed in the control group. The final results of the study aren't yet clear, but Hornby's preliminary work pointed toward promising improvements with the intensive therapy.
Back at his Highland Park home, Kirk says on the video that he's in touch with his office several times a day and is helping U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, find a replacement for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who announced his resignation in May.
Outside medical experts said the senator appears to be making excellent headway.
Cleveland Clinic stroke specialist Dr. Shazan Hussain said the video shows the senator has made outstanding progress and "likely will continue to get better and better." Asked whether Kirk might permanently need a cane to walk, Hussain said: "It's hard to know that for sure, but it seems likely he's going to require some kind of walking aid, like a cane."
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Experimental stroke therapy helps Illinois senator Mark Kirk