Therapy

Goal setting is always a hot topic in neurorehabilitation – it has, in many ways, become much more than the sum of its parts and, as a concept, it is saturated with literature. There is frequently new research evaluating components of goal setting or describing emerging ideas in the field, and this can be difficult to navigate, even with all the time in the world. As clinicians, however, there is rarely ever any spare time at all. If we listen to what we are told about how important goal setting is for our service users and teams, we need to know exactly what it is, why it matters, and how we can do a good job of it.

Martin was particularly hard to reach. Aggressive and unpredictable in his behaviour after a brain injury, those tasked with working with him were at a loss as to how to help. Nothing seemed to work. But a chance remark that he used to enjoy cycling when he was younger changed his life trajectory and got the gears of his meaningful recovery into motion. He was introduced to Dave Buchan, a specialist cycling coach and mentor, and began to engage in ways the people around him had never imagined possible. From the full-of-anger man he had become after his injury, through the medium of cycling, his behaviour began to change.

Suffering a stroke is a frightening event. They occur suddenly and without warning, usually caused by a blockage of arteries leading to the brain, which is known as an ischaemic stroke. Another, less common stroke, can be caused by bleeding into brain tissue when a blood vessel bursts, but ischaemic strokes remain the most common. Regardless of which stroke is experienced, it always affects how the body functions.

As healthcare professionals, we are always kind, right? We always look at both sides of the argument, never judge others or get frustrated with our clients… Well, maybe not. Of course, we are human and just as easily swayed by our foibles as the next person. However, and this may sound obvious, when working with vulnerable clients and families as we do, there is an even bigger need for kindness to be at the core of our interactions. It was whilst standing in the school yard with my children that I first started to really think about this. We spend maybe five or ten minutes each day in the yard all of the other parents.

Chroma, a provider of neurologic music therapy (NMT) is working with children, and their families, recovering from acquired brain injuries or auto immune conditions. York-based charity Jessie’s Fund originally funded the yearlong feasibility study and following independent evaluation has agreed with the hospital’s trust to extend the project for another year. Chroma’s music therapist will work as part of the multi-disciplinary team to support paediatric in-patients at Great North Children’s Hospital.

When a music therapist first came to Karima Collins’ stroke ward, her NHS- issue sceptic alert fired up. “We’re trained to be quite critical and to focus on the evidence,” she says. “When someone makes grand claims about what the therapy can do, like improving attention, communication and reducing neglect, I was sceptical. How on earth could it do all these things?” Then she saw the video evidence – and heard more about how neurologic music therapy (NMT) can transform outcomes in stroke patients.

  New York-based Spine Care Technologies, launched in March 2018, believes it has the answer in the Extentrac Elite; which enables non-surgical, drug free, disc and spine care treatment. The device is a multidirectional decompression device used to aid the treatment of spinal injuries, mostly from the thoracic (mid) to the lumbar (lower) spine. It is used in in the treatment of minor degenerative disc disease, through to drop-foot and serious neurological impingement.

We all know that taking exercise has both physical and mental health benefits. Staying active is easy for some, and not so easy for others. The current campaign run by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy is “Love activity, Hate exercise”. Taking this principle we try to prompt and increase where possible, general activity for all our patients at our St Neots neurological service. For some this may be encouraging them to be more involved on the ward generally, in group activities or on outings. For the more physically able patients, we were looking for a fun way to engage and push them outside their comfort zone to see if this could potentially improve their function or mobility.rehab opportunities when they had a gold standard idea...

In this age of strained healthcare resources, all therapists must be able to quickly and succinctly evidence their value. In the neurologic strand of music therapy, this is aided by an approach in which assessments feature prominently. In the psychodynamic branch of music therapy with children and families, however, measuring and reporting progress has long been a significant challenge. Why is it important to assess families and more specifically, the interactions between parent and child? The most crucial reason would be to protect the children from negative parenting behaviours such as neglect or abuse.

Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) provides specific, individualised and standardised interventions for people with brain injury or neurological conditions. It is distinct from traditional music therapy approaches as it is not based on a social-science model. Rather, it is underpinned by neuroscience and recognises music as a hard-wired brain language. The discipline of NMT improves cognitive, sensory and motor dysfunction caused by neurologic disease of the human nervous system; and is becoming increasingly relied upon to deliver better neuro-rehab outcomes.