TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury)

The Brain Injury Association of America has estimated that in the US alone, there are approximately 1.5 million people who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year. Many people with TBI show evidence of cerebellar ataxia and other sensorimotor deficits or dysfunction.

How TheraTogs Can Help

TheraTogs were designed to enhance body awareness with compression, to grant the attending therapist the gift of extra “hands” to use during treatment sessions, and to sustain the customized , unforced postural corrections that the therapist can effect during a session. TheraTogs and selected strapping applications can be used in early rehabilitation to help to stabilize and align the torso and hips in sitting and standing positions and while walking.

TheraTogs provide the wearer with the opportunity to live and learn improved functioning postural and joint alignment through massed practice.

Which TheraTogs Systems to Use

These TheraTogs system can support therapy goals for TBI and associated issues:

• Posture and Torso Alignment (PTA) System

• Full Body System (FBS) – (includes limb strapping components).

Applicable Evidence, Science, and Therapy Approaches

Evidence. As Maguire et al )2009) showed, with adults post stroke, this approach can facilitate the recruitment of underused muscles. [1]

Sciences that apply to the management of TBI and associated issues:

• Biomechanics
• Kinesiology
• Physiologic adaptation of bone and soft tissues to use history
• Postural control
• Somatosensory information processing and modulation
• Neural plasticity: cortical mapping and massed practice

Therapy approaches that can be used to address TBI and associated issues:

• Movement System [Impairment Syndrome] Analysis and Management
• Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT)

More About TBI with Resulting Sensorimotor Dysfunction

One of the frequently reported outcomes after TBI is an increase postural instability. A diffuse brain injury can affect many parts of the brain, including the sensory processing region and the cerebellum.  Loss of muscle strength is rapid during the acute phase of recovery. Postural control and sensorimotor processing – critical for the maintaining a stable gait – are often impaired.

TBI symptoms generally fall into one or more of the three following categories, and can include:

• Physical: headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, sleep disturbance, weakness, paresis/plegia, sensory loss, spasticity, aphasia, dysphagia, dysarthria, apraxia, balance disorders, disorders of coordination, or seizure disorder.

• Cognitive: problems with attention, concentration, memory, speed of processing, new learning, planning, reasoning, judgment, executive control, self-awareness, language, or abstract thinking.

• Behavioral/emotional: depression, anxiety, agitation, irritability, impulsivity, or aggression.

Read more at Brain Injury Association of America: www.biausa.org.

References

1. Maguire C et al. BMC Neurology 2012, 12:18 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2377/12/18