Brain Rehabilitation

When an individual suffers a brain injury, they often lose some degree of cognitive functioning. Skills impacted can include gross or fine motor skills, speech, language processing, or remembering how to complete basic daily tasks, such as bathing, dressing, or cooking. Brain rehabilitation is done to help individuals regain lost function in the areas of movement, emotional processing and expression, thinking and memory, and the processing and utilization of language. The most common form of brain injury that requires rehabilitative services is a stroke; when there is a loss of blood flow to part of the brain, it needs to re-learn what was once easily understood. Other reasons for brain rehabilitation can include tumors and traumatic brain injuries.

Brain rehabilitation, like any form of rehabilitation, is highly individualized and works within the patient's abilities and needs to achieve determined goals. Initially, rehabilitation might only occur for a few minutes at a time, challenging the patient to use their cognitive abilities as a means of determining a baseline performance level. Inpatient brain rehabilitation is likely to follow, proceeded thereafter by a transition to a facility that is a step between hospitalization and living independently. This stage is often used by those who simply need additional support in relearning those skills necessary to safely live without supervision. It is likely that outpatient rehabilitative services will be needed for much of a person's adult life, as the vast impact of a brain injury is often not immediately apparent.