Neurological rehabilitation helps patients with nervous system diseases, injuries, and disorders improve function, reduce symptoms, and build strength and endurance. It includes physical therapy and care from experts like physiatrists, occupational therapists, and speech and language pathologists.
Quality neurological rehabilitation starts with a specialized comprehensive evaluation. Then, therapists create SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) to guide treatment.
Neuropsychology
Neuropsychology is a specialty in psychology focused on how thoughts and behaviors relate to the brain and nervous system. It also focuses on how injuries and illnesses like stroke or traumatic brain injury affect cognitive and behavioral functioning.
These professionals, like those from Colorado Integrated Neurology, specialize in administering various psychological assessments and tests to measure different aspects of mental functions, including memory and problem-solving skills. Unlike clinical psychologists or school psychologists, who can also perform such evaluations, neuropsychologists have extensive training in interpreting these tests and their results.
Neuropsychological evaluations typically start with an intake session, where a patient meets with the clinician to discuss their history and goals for recovery. After the review, a report is prepared and provided to the family and other treatment team members. This information helps the rehabilitation team identify deficits, strengths, and associated recommendations.
Neuroplasticity
Whether you’re learning to speak a new language or getting back on track after a brain injury, neuroplasticity is the force that helps your brain evolve and manage these new challenges. It’s the underlying principle behind physical therapy exercises that encourage movement and repetition. These strategies leverage the regenerative powers of neuroplasticity to build pathways around injured areas or even in place of damaged ones.
This phenomenon is also referred to as brain plasticity or functional reorganization. Neuroplasticity can result in changes to the structure of your brain, including cellular alterations and synaptic plasticity. This can happen immediately following a head injury and involves the strengthening or weakening of specific connections, depending on the activity of pre-synaptic neurons (e.g., LTP and LTD).
It can also involve cortical map reorganization, wherein the representation of movements or sensory inputs shifts within your brain’s cortex in response to injury or other influences. For example, blind people can have touch-oriented input redirected to the visual cortex in their occipital lobe.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is a noninvasive training process that creates long-term improvements in various disorders. It is a far safer option than drugs, which often have unwanted and dangerous side effects.
During a neurofeedback session, brain wave information is recorded and displayed on a computer screen, using audio and visual stimuli to help the patient learn to control their brainwaves. The goal is to decrease the production of harmful waves and increase desirable ones. This is done by changing the frequency of brain activity, such as increasing the production of alpha waves associated with relaxation and calming, decreasing beta wave activity related to anxiety and stress, or increasing theta wave activity associated with memory and learning.
Repeating this process allows the brain to initiate and regulate these states independently outside the sessions. This is how lasting improvement can be created, like learning to ride a bicycle.
Virtual Rehabilitation
Virtual reality (VR)-based rehabilitation is becoming increasingly recognized as an effective treatment for physical impairments. The technology allows patients to practice the affected body part in a safe and motivating environment, providing personalized feedback and increasing challenge.
VR can also encourage patients to exercise regularly by combining therapeutic exercises with motivational games and rewards. For example, the IREX virtual rehabilitation system combines upper and lower-extremity exercises with a virtual environment and video gesture control technology. Studies have shown that patients who use IREX are up to three times more motivated and willing to participate in rehabilitation sessions twice or even three times per day.
Moreover, portable VR devices allow patients to train independently at home, optimizing therapist workload and increasing engagement. Recent research also shows that VR-based therapy improves motor recovery after stroke compared to in-person physiotherapy. However, long-term follow-up is required to ensure that the gains achieved in training are maintained over time.
