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In case a head injury or stroke only damages and not destroy brain tissue, the damaged tissue can recover its function gradually. Brain injury rehabilitation can definitely speed up the recovery process and make it complete. If not, recovery would have taken from 6 months to several years depending on the seriousness of the injury or stroke. A destroyed tissue cannot recover its functions. But some other part of the brain will usually take over the duties of the destroyed area. Rehabilitation becomes crucial to this recovery process. This article provides information on brain injury rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation should begin as soon as the affected individual is medically stable. That way the individual has a better chance of recovering some of the lost functions of the brain. Early rehabilitation is important to prevent many complications like weakened muscles, contractures or shortened muscles, and depression. Whether rehabilitation succeeds or not will depend on the general health condition, bowel and bladder function, muscle strength, range of motion, coping skills, learning abilities, and the readiness of the individual to participate in a rehabilitation program.
When brain injury has resulted in paralysed limbs, the therapist will either move the affected limb or encourage the patient to move them. This is important to retain the affected joint’s range of motion. There are many activities the affected patient could do in order to improve his or her range of motions such as outdoor activities. Coordination exercises are also important in this regard.
Most of the time, the therapist will intentionally restrict the movements of the unaffected limb. This is done by wearing a sling or mitt on the unaffected arm. This strategy will help the brain to rewire the brain of the affected individual to use the weakened or paralysed limb for activities such as eating, grooming, washing, and other daily tasks.
A stroke or brain injury such as a concussion can impair the cognition abilities of the patient. Such individuals may have issues with concentration, memory, organisation of thought, orientation, comprehension, perception, and speech. Cognitive rehabilitation is quite a slow process that needs to be tailored to each affected individual’s situation. These individuals are best suited for one-on-one treatments.
When a head injury or stroke damages brain tissue without destroying them, the damaged tissue is able to recover its functions over time. Brain injury rehabilitation can definitely speed up the process of recovery and make it complete.
