By Dr Robert Masson, neurosurgeon and co-founder of medical AI company eXpanded eXistence.
There are several aspects to neurological rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury, severe brain illness, brain tumour management and spinal cord injury.
They all are profoundly different and yet there is a core value which is common to all. The bottom line is optimism and hope for best possible scenario is critical to the best recovery.
Traumatic brain injury can impact motor function, auditory perception, vocal capabilities and overall mentation. This has practical functional consequences and deep emotional consequences.
Depression complicates recovery, energy level, commitment to the rehab process and in many seizures and the myriad of pharmaceuticals required to treat all have a profound impact on the recovery.
It takes a multi-disciplinary and holistic approach to coordinate all of the complexities of the recovery clinical pathway.
Similarly, spinal cord injury, while having massive functional consequences, the resulting paralysis, dependency and bowel and bladder/sexual dysfunction all leave the patient extremely vulnerable, embarassed, low self esteem at a time when maximal recovery demands the best commitment to treatment.
Clinical providers spend too much time and effort sometimes, preaching failure statistics. The best outcomes come from understanding the best possible results.
In spinal cord injury, after 34 years as a neurosurgeon one thing is explicitly clear to me.
If you don’t believe that you may walk again, then you wont commit to the process of walking again, and people who don’t commit fall significantly short of their best overall possible recovery.
Miracles happen in a variety of forms, and the goal should be aim for the stars and the process, the pathway will maximise the potential which is unknown in most circumstances by even the most brilliant clinicians.
False hope has consequences too, but if we had to err, we would rather encourage someone to overachieve than cause someone to quit trying.
The bottom line, it is a vastly important piece of the neurological crisis puzzle, and it needs to be taken as if not more seriously than the primary treatment for the underlying condition.
All stakeholders need to communicate with the same positive, process rich and possibility specific language to minimize confusion from the network surrounding the injured human.
Maximum commitment, discipline and effort is rewarded by the most positive best selves after exiting the neurological health crisis.
Dr. Robert Masson is a neurosurgeon specialising in minimally invasive spine surgery and sports spine medicine. He is the Founder and CEO of eXpanded eXistence, a mixed reality and machine learning, medtech company building an organisational software for the operating room focused on surgical performance, set up, team learning, logistics, and artificial intelligence.
Comment: “Don’t let fear of false hope kill overachievement in neuro-rehab”
By Dr Robert Masson, neurosurgeon and co-founder of medical AI company eXpanded eXistence.
There are several aspects to neurological rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury, severe brain illness, brain tumour management and spinal cord injury.
They all are profoundly different and yet there is a core value which is common to all. The bottom line is optimism and hope for best possible scenario is critical to the best recovery.
Traumatic brain injury can impact motor function, auditory perception, vocal capabilities and overall mentation. This has practical functional consequences and deep emotional consequences.
Depression complicates recovery, energy level, commitment to the rehab process and in many seizures and the myriad of pharmaceuticals required to treat all have a profound impact on the recovery.
It takes a multi-disciplinary and holistic approach to coordinate all of the complexities of the recovery clinical pathway.
Similarly, spinal cord injury, while having massive functional consequences, the resulting paralysis, dependency and bowel and bladder/sexual dysfunction all leave the patient extremely vulnerable, embarassed, low self esteem at a time when maximal recovery demands the best commitment to treatment.
Clinical providers spend too much time and effort sometimes, preaching failure statistics. The best outcomes come from understanding the best possible results.
In spinal cord injury, after 34 years as a neurosurgeon one thing is explicitly clear to me.
If you don’t believe that you may walk again, then you wont commit to the process of walking again, and people who don’t commit fall significantly short of their best overall possible recovery.
Miracles happen in a variety of forms, and the goal should be aim for the stars and the process, the pathway will maximise the potential which is unknown in most circumstances by even the most brilliant clinicians.
False hope has consequences too, but if we had to err, we would rather encourage someone to overachieve than cause someone to quit trying.
The bottom line, it is a vastly important piece of the neurological crisis puzzle, and it needs to be taken as if not more seriously than the primary treatment for the underlying condition.
All stakeholders need to communicate with the same positive, process rich and possibility specific language to minimize confusion from the network surrounding the injured human.
Maximum commitment, discipline and effort is rewarded by the most positive best selves after exiting the neurological health crisis.
Dr. Robert Masson is a neurosurgeon specialising in minimally invasive spine surgery and sports spine medicine. He is the Founder and CEO of eXpanded eXistence, a mixed reality and machine learning, medtech company building an organisational software for the operating room focused on surgical performance, set up, team learning, logistics, and artificial intelligence.