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Showing posts with the label Brain injury management in Ernakulam

THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST'S ROLE IN THE TREATMENT OF BRAIN INJURIES

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Neuropsychology is a leading branch of brain science aims at understanding the relations between brain processes and mechanisms on one hand, and cognition and behavioral control on the other. It plays a critical role in rehabilitation as many medical problems may improve shortly after brain injuries yet cognitive and emotional changes can continue to interfere with activities. After a brain injury , many important skills like memory, critical thinking and judgment can be affected. Every brain injury is different and can result in a range of symptoms that have a unique impact on the individual and their family. What is a brain injury? A brain injury or ' Traumatic Brain Injury ' can be defined as the damage to living brain tissue that is initially caused by external mechanical forces. Whatever the cause, a brain injury can result in an impairment of cognitive abilities or physical functioning and also in the disturbance of behavioral or emotio...

BRAIN INJURY REHABILITATION

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Rehabilitation channels the body's natural healing abilities and the brain's relearning processes so an individual may recover as quickly and efficiently as possible. Learning new ways to compensate for abilities that have permanently changed due to brain injury are also involved in this. The focus of rehabilitation is to enable individuals to perform their activities of daily living safely and independently.  So that, they could move on to other forms of rehabilitation or transition to their home. Based on a person’s ability to participate in a rehabilitation program, there are several rehabilitation options. Acute Rehabilitation Acute rehabilitation will begin in the individuals who sustain brain injuries as early as possible in their recovery process. The treatment is provided in a special unit of a trauma hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, or another inpatient setting. A team of health professionals with experience and training in brain injury works with ...

What is Occupational Therapy?

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Occupational therapy helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities. Occupational therapy practitioners enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and preventor live better with injury, illness, or disability. Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes. Occupational therapy services typically include: An individualized evaluation, during which the client/family and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals, Customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals, and An outcomes evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to th...

Guillain barre syndrome

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Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a disease affected the nervous system. It is thought to be caused by an autoimmune reaction. This means it cause body's immune system to attack its own tissues. This disease starts when the immune system attacks and damages something called myelin . That’s a layer of insulation that surrounds nerves. It also helps nerves transmit their messages. Usually, weakness begins in both legs and moves up the body. GBS damages the peripheral nervous system . That’s the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. They help the central nervous system communicate with the rest of your body, including the skin, heart, and muscles. GBS often starts a few days or weeks after an infection like the cold or flu. People with this syndrome are hospitalized immediately because symptoms can worsen rapidly. Immune globulin given intravenously or plasma exchange speeds recovery. Signs and symptoms Guillain-Barre syndrome often begins with tingling a...

Role of a Physical Therapist

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Physical therapy can help a patient regain movement or strength after an injury or illness. A physical therapist is a trained and licensed medical professional with experience in diagnosing physical abnormalities, restoring physical function and mobility, maintaining physical function, and promoting physical activity and proper function. They take care of patients in all phases of healing, from initial diagnosis through the restorative and preventive stages of recovery. They can treat a wide variety of medical conditions, depending on their specialty. Some conditions that can benefit from physical therapy treatment are: Cardiopulmonary conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis (CF) and post-myocardial infarction (MI). Hand therapy for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger. Musculoskeletal dysfunction such as back pain, rotator cuff tears, and temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ). Neurological...

Difference Between a Brain Injury and Head Injury

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Brain is complex and have unique connection of nerves, blood vessels and tissues. It is the center of nervous system and it receives, processes and sends messages to every cell and every part of the body. The information received is from any of our seven senses: sight (visual), sound (auditory), touch (tactile), smell (olfactory), movement (kinesthetic), taste (gustatory) and intuition (spiritual).   Any type of injury to the head or brain can be extremely serious. So always want to get medical attention immediately if anyone suffered any trauma to head. A medical professional can determine whether the trauma resulted in a head injury or a brain injury by doing diagnostic and imaging tests. Head injury and brain injury are often used interchangeably though they are technically different. The following are some distinctions between these two injuries. Head Injury A head injury is an injury to the skull. Skulls have been developed and designed to protect our brain...

Types of Traumatic Brain Injury

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Injuries occur to the brain, skull, and scalp are refered as brain injury . Complications and required treatments will greatly depend on the location of the injury, how the injury is acquired,and the severity of the brain damage. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by a trauma to the head. There are many possible causes, including road traffic accidents, falls, assaults and accidents at home or at work. Types of Traumatic Brain Injury There are four main types of TBIs. They are concussion, contusion, penetrating injury, and anoxic brain injury. Concussions A concussion is a minor brain injury that is caused by shaking, a sudden change in movement, like whiplash or   an impact to the head. It can cause headaches, memory loss, problems with concentration and disorientation.They should considered as serious and should be treated as soon as possible. Contusion Just like have a bruise on the skin, a brain contusion is a br...

WHAT IS NEUROPSYCHOLOGY?

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The brain is complex. Disorders within the brain and nervous system can change behavior and cognitive function. Neuropsychology is the study of relationships of brain–behavior. On theoretical basis it aims at understanding the relationships between the brain, on the one side and the mind and behavioral control, on the other. It is a complex field of study, relating various fields like neurology, psychology, psychiatry, clinical neurosciences, physiology and statistics.  In the majority of psychiatric disorders focal brain lesions are rare. The real challenge of neuropsychology in relation to psychiatry is to understand abnormal behavior in terms of dysfunctional processing of information. This is related to abnormally functioning brain systems than to localized brain damage.   Neuropsychology has led to the advanced study of psychiatric disorder over past decades. It is now seen as an essential discipline for the study of psychiatric disorder. This improvem...

Traumatic brain injury Management

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Traumatic brain injury is common and a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Management is based on avoidance of secondary injury, maintenance of cerebral perfusion pressure, and optimization of cerebral oxygenation. Multimodality monitoring of the injured brain enables individualized therapeutic targets to be set to optimize patient management. Patients with moderate or severe brain injury should be managed in a specialist neurosurgical center. Traumatic brain injury (TBI)                     Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in young adults in the developed world. It can be divided into primary and secondary brain injury. The primary injury occurs as a consequence of the initial physical insult. The pattern and extent of damage will depend on the nature, intensity, and duration of the impact. Compression and shearing forces may...