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- Restore Lost Function: Improve lost functions like walking, eating, or using the bathroom
- Interdisciplinary Approach: Involves various rehabilitation professionals to restore cognitive and communication skills
- Continuous Review: Regular monitoring to ensure mobility, cognitive and behavioral skills are improving
Since everything that we do involves the brain, a brain injury can be very debilitating, physically and emotionally, and not just for the patient but also for the people around him or her.
There are many possible causes for brain injury and these include a blow to the head resulting in loss of consciousness as well as stroke, a number of neurological diseases, assault or respiratory illnesses. It is to the credit of brain injury rehabilitation that many people, who would have otherwise lost their lives, have been saved.
Rehabilitation treatments may help improve injury, but it may not fully restore the quality of life that the person once used to live. However, brain injury rehabilitation can help people re-learn skills that were lost due to the injury of the brain. If there are some skills that cannot be restored to pre-injury level, brain injury rehabilitation seeks to help patients do things differently so that satisfactory results can be achieved.
1. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR, has developed a research summary under its ‘evidence based practice program’ to provide a report on child and adolescent TBI (Traumatic) rehabilitation. There is also a research summary on Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury, which is focused on adults.
2. ‘Whitlock and Hamilton’ (1995) research paper suggests that even the most severely brain damaged patient can recover cognitive functioning to a remarkable degree if admitted to an acute rehabilitation program as early as possible after the initial injury.
Treatment to a head injury may help correct the injury but it is possible that the same level of cognitive, behavioral functionality or mobility cannot be restored to its original state before the injury. The process of rehabilitation is essential to restore these functions so that basic functions like eating, moving about, and communicating with other people are possible. However, it is important to note that there are many people who have shown remarkable improvement following brain injury rehabilitation.
In certain areas that demand some skills, some level of independent functioning can be brought back. The brain injury rehabilitation team provides a multi-disciplinary approach that may include a team of physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and rehabilitation physicians. At the same time, family and friends may also receive guidance on how to assist in recovery with the patient.
Can the brain injury fully recover? There is a definite ‘recovery curve’ which therapists often maintain as they monitor the progress of the patient. Though some brain injuries can be remedied, it is also dependent on the extent of injury and how well the patient responds to the therapy. Brain injury rehabilitation enables the patient to restore his mobility and cognitive skills back to normalcy, or at the least, to the level wherein basic functions are reestablished.
What are the services provided in a brain injury rehabilitation unit? A team of professionals constantly assesses and monitors the condition of the patient. The objective of rehabilitation is to support the individual in achieving the most independent level of functioning possible. For some patients, the goal can be cognitive and communication, for others it may be recall and memory power, and for some others, it can be related to mobility.
What does continued rehabilitation mean? How does it help? Continued rehabilitation is done through community services that include supported housing and other initiatives. This is meant to develop a patient’s cognitive, emotional, and social skills back to their pre-injury states. The patient is asked to live in a home as a part of community service where the individual can work on improving his or her abilities under expert medical care and observation.
Do not be under the impression that the patient will be able to perform all the functions easily as he or she used to before the injury. However, the medical team will ensure that the individual is able to perform most of these basic functions without any problems.
Also through motivation, guidance and an alternative approach to therapy in solving problems or understanding things, a patient will be able to do most of his or her duties well. Nonetheless, patience and support must be given to help the patient through the whole process.
4 Reasons To Consider Brain Injury Rehabilitation:
Restore lost functionalities: One of the effects of brain injury is the loss of independent functions of the patient as he or she is forced to depend on others to perform basic functions such as eating and using the bathroom.
Interdisciplinary approach: Therapy often involves a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure that cognitive skills, communication and behavioral skills, and mobility are restored to the best possible condition.
Continued review: Regular assessment, monitoring, and review are conducted by a qualified team of therapists to ensure progress and positve response to brain injury rehabilitation.
Counseling to the family: In some cases the rehabilitation team offers counseling and guidance, advising family members on how to address a particular situation and how to communicate easily and effectively with the patient.
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