New Technology Can Lead To More Success

Technology plays an ever-increasing indelible role in our modern lives.  Just as our phones and televisions are enhanced by new technological advancements,  so does neurorehabilitation from brain injuries benefit in a similar fashion.

Technological advances and applications for that new technology in rehabilitation come from different sources.  There has been a steady improvement in proprietary technologies catering to therapists and doctors who treat individuals with brain injuries.  These new technologies aid in a wide range of therapies, from helping a patient to re-learn swallowing skills to improving gait training.  Two common such examples can be seen in a patient working on a task while wearing electrodes to stimulate particular muscle groups or one walking laps while a programmable hoist unloads a percentage of that patient’s body weight.

Separately but related, most patients now integrate smart phones, Ipads, tablets and other such technology into their daily lives.  These items can be very useful in compensating for certain deficits.  For instance, many patients use their smart phones to keep track of their schedules and to program reminder alarms for daily activities.  There are numerous speech apps that can be downloaded to Ipads which enable patients to engage in more effective communication with others.  The cameras now included as feature of virtually every cell phone and tablet PC prove useful in compensating for deficits in visual memory.

These new technological advances benefit patients in multiple ways.  Many of these technologies enhance the effectiveness of therapies.  This brings greater success in individual therapies and thus in overall rehabilitation.  Other technologies provide new ways to compensate for deficits.  This helps reduce the lasting impact of injuries on patients’ daily lives.  Additionally, patients enjoy certain technologies that can make the daily work of therapies feel more fun or interesting.  This helps keep patients motivated in those therapies.  The pertinent role of the therapist is to identify which technologies will benefit which particular patient as each patient is different both in therapy needs and in personal comfort level with new technologies.

Learn about brain injury treatment services at the Transitional Learning Center! Visit us at: http://tlcrehab.org/

Ronald Reagan’s Brain Injury

Ronald Reagan served as President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.  He passed away in 2004 from Alzheimer’s Disease, perhaps the most famous victim of this terrible affliction.  Most Americans are unaware that in 1989  (just months after he completed his second term as President) Reagan underwent neurosurgery to remove blood build-up between his brain and skull following a fall from a horse in Mexico.  Below is a link to an article on his surgery:

There is significant discussion in the field of medicine that a brain injury can increase the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s Disease or cause the disease to occur earlier in an individual’s lifetime.  For example, recent research found that patients with Alzheimer’s who had suffered a traumatic brain injury earlier in life developed the disease 2.5 years earlier than those who had not suffered a brain injury.

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2018/tbi-alzheimers.html

It is impossible to generalize from large-scale studies to a particular individual such as Reagan but it is worthwhile to acknowledge the possibility that his traumatic brain injury influenced the course of his Alzheimer’s.

Learn about brain injury treatment services at the Transitional Learning Center! Visit us at: http://tlcrehab.org/