3 Creative Ways To Rehabilitate Your Traumatic Brain Injury Patients
Experts estimate that at least 2% of the American population (roughly 5.3 million people) is living with a traumatic brain injury. Injuries to the brain can cause disruptions in cognitive function, but rehabilitative care can help those with brain injuries regain cognitive abilities over time.
If you are looking for interesting ways to get your patients engaged in rehabilitative care for traumatic brain injuries, here are three techniques you can incorporate into your therapy program in the future.
1. Sudoku
Puzzles that challenge a patient's cognitive function can be beneficial in helping to exercise the brain. One of the most challenging types of puzzles you can have your patients engage in is Sudoku. Just as Sudoku can be beneficial in helping children more fully develop their cognitive reasoning skills, these puzzles can improve cognitive function in adults with a traumatic brain injury.
Solving these types of number puzzles require the patient to use logic, reasoning, and concentration. Exercising the regions of the brain responsible for these cognitive functions can be beneficial in helping patients overcome the negative side effects of a traumatic brain injury.
2. Creating Works of Art
Art therapy has been used by rehabilitative specialists to help patients reduce stress levels for years, but new research shows that the very act of creating art can be beneficial in improving cognitive function. For patients that suffer from mild cases of traumatic brain injury, using a brush to apply paint to a canvas can improve hand-eye coordination.
Art therapy can also be helpful in improving memory and spatial reasoning skills. Incorporating art into your rehabilitative model will help your patients exercise their brain while enjoying the stress and anxiety reducing benefits that art therapy can provide.
3. Music Therapy
Most people find music enjoyable, and you can capitalize on the healing benefits music provides when trying to provide your patients with a fun rehabilitative activity.
Music is essentially a complex auditory language. Processing the auditory messages received while listening to music requires a patient's brain to engage in complex perceptive and motor control activities. These activities can help heal the neural pathways that often sustain damage during a traumatic brain injury, allowing the patient to experience improved cognitive function.
Rehabilitative protocols don't have to be clinical in nature. At Dominion Physical Therapy, we use a variety of therapies to help with brain rehabilitative therapy. By incorporating games, art, and music into your therapy model you give your patients an enjoyable way to help heal the damage caused by a traumatic brain injury.
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