Therapy
A project has been launched to introduce smart assistant devices into residential facilities for brain injury patients to enhance their wellbeing and increase their communication with the outside world both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The Disabilities Trust is pioneering the ConnectAbility project, which makes use of technologies and digital means to help increase independence and widen opportunities for social interaction among patients.
Through raising money to buy smart assistant devices, such as the Amazon Alexa, the Trust believes this could help people to live independently and bridge the ‘digital literacy’ gap which have previously prevented many people, particularly those with cognitive impairments, from benefitting from technology.
Five brain injury professionals spanning dietetics, case management, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy share what they've learnt from to shift to virtual therapy.
At the start of the pandemic, many statutory rehab services were redeployed, and some independent therapy teams closed or therapists moved back into frontline work within the NHS and community. A group of private therapists in the North West of England started keeping in touch on social media and in weekly group support sessions to share their fears and concerns, and identify the strengths that helped them survive in such challenging times.
Rehabilitation services for stroke and other neurological diseases have seen a slower recovery in outpatient clinics than those in inpatient settings as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report has found.
Outpatient services were largely stopped or significantly scaled back when the pandemic hit, the study said, and continue to take longer to recover post-lockdown, which could have long-term implications for patients into the future.
Decreases of around 36 per cent compared to 2019 were seen in the ability of outpatient units to interact with patients, with many appointments being delayed for between 3 and 6 months.
In an inpatient setting, the decrease was around 27 per cent at the peak COVID-19 period, although the recovery in rates of seeing patients came much quicker.
Having been an early adopter of telerehab, PhysioFunction was perhaps less daunted than most at the prospect of responding to the COVID-19 lockdown and ensuring their clients’ needs were met.
The specialist neuro physiotherapy practice has, for the past year, used video calls to enable its clients to receive one-to-one sessions in addition to those provided in person, with its staff supporting them to install and use the technology remotely.
It is also an early adopter of the MindMotion GO, a first-of-its-kind mobile neurorehabilitation therapy system which uses gaming to support the recovery of brain injury and neuro patients.
Laura Nicholls, lead speech and language therapist at The Bridge Neurological Care Centre in Middlesbrough, reflects on the rehabilitative journey of her patient Angela on regaining some normality following a lengthy admission in intensive care.
Firstly there’s a couple of things you need to know about Angela before I can tell you about her journey. She isn’t usually one to let another person speak for her but I have been given full permission to share with you all the ups and downs of her rehabilitative journey. Angela has acquired the very fitting nickname ‘The Duchess’. This comes from her previous occupation as a community matron, her fine eye for detail, her drive for perfection and her tendency towards bossiness.
Rehabilitation journeys are increasingly being guided by the rhythmic interventions of music therapists but challenges in opening up access remain; as Chroma's Daniel Thomas explains.
Daniel Thomas, managing director of art therapies provider Chroma, developed an interest in music at a young age. However, he’s concerned that young people today aren’t exposed to enough music education, and that this will have a knock- on effect on music therapy, which can help a range of people, including those with a brain injury. “There have been massive cutbacks, a killing off of music in schools,” Thomas says, “Which has had a huge effect over many years as that side of school life has been systematically eked away and cut back.
By Daniel Thomas, joint managing director of Chroma Therapies
With its ability to produce new neural pathways, Neurologic Music Therapy is able to encourage movement, co-ordination, improve speech and language, and improve the ability to read/feel emotions, reactions and more, in people living with catastrophic injuries. This is because music automatically connects to the brain. And this automaticity is what makes music so powerful. Music also has to ability to push your training capabilities farther and faster especially in running. This is why a running playlist is the ideal accompaniment to any runner.
Research into spinal cord injury (SCI) has continues at pace, with several exciting new findings in recent months, summarised here.
Every patient seen by a Chroma is different. Each day is never the same. That’s certainly the case for Lucy, who suffered a stroke. She presented to A&E with dense left-sided weakness, aphasia and vomiting. CT scans revealed that she had suffered from a right intracerebral haemorrhage. Lucy was referred to Chroma for Neurologic Music Therapy to address poor breath support, reduced voice volume and monotonous voice quality.
Suffering a TBI can affect people in different ways. In some cases, the patient can be affected so severely that they are deemed to be in a vegetative state. This is the case for many patients referred to Chroma. Ahmed was admitted to the prolonged disorders of consciousness unit for assessment at a private London hospital and was deemed to be in a vegetative state. He was unable to track objects, localise sounds or recognise objects or familiar voices. This is an all too familiar case seen by therapists within Chroma and their work in the private healthcare sector.
