Strokes and Traumatic Brain Injuries
Strokes and other types of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are debilitating. They can happen at any age. Gains are typically minor and slow with conventional rehabilitation.
Today, however, the effect of rehabilitation from a recent stroke, or even one many years ago, can be enhanced by neurofeedback.
Strokes and TBI’s that occurred more than two years ago can be especially resistant to commonly used rehabilitation methods, but neurofeedback technology turns on its head the belief that progress essentially stops in its tracks at the two-year point.
Here are a couple of case examples:
- A woman had a stroke three years earlier and lost the use of her left hand. It remained completely clenched and unusable. After doing neurofeedback for 10 sessions, she was able to open and use her hand. How did neurofeedback do that? The training was done near the motor strip of her brain which affects the control of muscles and muscle tone. The training prompted those motor circuits to reorganize, which helped her significantly improve the motor function of her hand.
- (This short interview below with one of our clients shows the power that neurofeedback can have in people’s lives, even many years after a brain injury occurs.)
April had suffered debilitating symptoms for over nine years since an illness left her with a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). After just six weeks of neurofeedback, she experienced significant improvement.
Neurofeedback can be a powerful type of physical therapy
Neurofeedback technology can do “physical therapy” by targeting specific parts of your brain and exercising them, based on your individual profile and needs.
Let’s take a problem with speech. Neurofeedback training can target and strengthen areas of the brain that relate to speech (such as Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area). Because of the amount of speech recovery that can occur with neurofeedback, some neuropsychologists feel actual rehab is occurring in the brain.
It’s not possible to predict the level of recovery that can be achieved in the case of a stroke or TBI because it depends on many factors. However, after hundreds of cases by clinicians using neurofeedback with stroke patients, it’s clear that many people can achieve a higher level of recovery than would be expected with conventional therapy.
Symptom improvement ranges from speech to movement to mood regulation to memory to control of behavior. Headaches are often reduced, too.
The importance of a brain map
We often recommend our stroke and TBI clients have a brain map, which we do here at our center. A brain map pinpoints which areas of the brain should be targeted for training.
Dr. Tanju Surmeli, a psychiatrist world-renowned for his research in neurofeedback and psychological disorders, weighs in on the role of neurofeedback for a head injury or trauma that may cause bi-polar-like symptoms, in an interview with Mike Cohen, Director of Center for Brain.
Listen to the audio clip: Dr. Surmeli on Bipolar Symptoms and Post-Concussive Syndrome
