Deans' stroke musings: Computerized rehab aids those suffering from brain injuries

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Computerized rehab aids those suffering from brain injuries

Well shit now all they have to do is write up a stroke protocol on this and we might be able to help survivors. But since we have NO leadership and NO strategy nothing will be followed up on this to help survivors. You're fucking screwed for the next 50 years at least. Maybe your great great grandchildren will be able to use this.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-02-computerized-rehab-aids-brain-injuries.html

For the first time, researchers have shown that computerized cognitive rehabilitation (a program to help brain-injured or otherwise cognitively impaired individuals to restore normal functioning) can improve attention and executive functioning in brain injury survivors including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke.

The findings, which appear online in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, may lead to improved treatment outcomes in patients with brain injury, especially for patients with limited mobility and means and those residing in rural areas.
Persistent cognitive problems are very common following brain injury, especially in executive functioning, attention and learning.
The research team conducted a systematic literature review of computerized treatment for attention and executive function in adults who suffered a brain injury. Studies published before or during April 2015 were evaluated for quality and methodology as no previous reviews had been completed. They found eight of 11 studies reported significant gains in cognitive function following treatment in TBI patients, with the three remaining studies reporting trends toward significance. Similarly, 10 of 12 mixed population studies observed significant improvements on measures of attention and executive function, with the remaining two studies reporting positive trends. Five studies reported significant improvements subsequent to treatment for stroke patients.
"The results of this systematic review provide encouraging evidence that computerized cognitive rehabilitation can improve attention and executive functioning in brain injury survivors," explained corresponding author Yelena Bogdanova, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and principal investigator at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
According to the researchers computerized treatment delivery can significantly reduce the wait time and cost of treatment, provide immediate access to treatment in any location, improve the quality of life of patients and reduce the burden of caregivers.
Bogdanova believes further studies are needed. "It is important to evaluate the efficacy of computerized cognitive training programs and to provide specific guidelines for computerized methods of rehabilitation in patients with brain injury, as it can reduce cost and increase accessibility of treatment to traditionally underserved populations," she added.

Explore further: Cognitive rehabilitation improves brain function in cancer survivors

Journal reference: Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation