Brain plasticity is the focus of a growing body of research with significant implications for neurorehabilitation. This state-of-the-art volume explores ways in which brain-injured individuals may be helped not only to compensate for their loss of cognitive abilities, but also possibly to restore those abilities. Expert contributors examine the extent to which damaged cortical regions can actually recover and resume previous functions, as well as how intact regions are recruited to take on tasks once mediated by the damaged region. Evidence-based rehabilitation approaches are reviewed for a range of impairments and clinical populations, including both children and adults.
A full-color neuroscience text that skillfully integrates neuromuscular skeletal content Covers both pediatric and adult issues Beautiful full-color presentation with numerous images Neurorehabilitation in Physical Therapy delivers comprehensive coverage of the structure and function of the human nervous system. It also discusses normal motor development and motor control, as well as common treatment techniques in physical therapy. In order to be engaging to students, cases open each chapter, with questions about those cases appearing throughout the chapter. The text includes numerous tables, flow charts, illustrations, and multiple-choice board-style review questions and is enhanced by a roster of world-renowned clinical contributors.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a significant source of death and permanent disability, contributing to nearly one-third of all injury related deaths in the United States and exacting a profound personal and economic toll. Despite the increased resources that have recently been brought to bear to improve our understanding of TBI, the developme
We possess as a cognitively aware species a high degree of function localization, but we still subscribe to the notion consistent with the model that dysfunction or damage to specific regions of the brain and nervous system may result in specific damage and deficits in behavior and function of individuals. Unfortunately, that is not enough to explain the capacity for plasticity, regeneration, spontaneous recovery, and optimization in neurological terms, and certainly not in its translation in clinical rehabilitation. Among the difficulties we face in the application of rehabilitation science in practice, the need to understand how the nervous system functions is less than understanding how it recovers from dysfunction, how we can effectively evaluate function, dysfunction and recovery, and how to provide a rational basis for making economic decisions about which method or methodology to invest. A neuroanatomical conceptualization is a not an option for rehabilitation practice. It is important to understand that what we are really attempting to achieve both in rehabilitation as well as in understanding the neurological basis of cognitive and motor improvement after trauma or stroke is not which brain area controls a given cognitive function, but how efficiently brain regions cooperate with each other and how novel connectivities may develop.
Stroke Rehabilitation: Insights from Neuroscience and Imaging informs and challenges neurologists, rehabilitation therapists, imagers, and stroke specialists to adopt more restorative and scientific approaches to stroke rehabilitation based on new evidence from neuroscience and neuroimaging literatures. The fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging are advancing rapidly and providing new insights into human behavior and learning. Similarly, improved knowledge of how the brain processes information after injury and recovers over time is providing new perspectives on what can be achieved through rehabilitation. Stroke Rehabilitation explores the potential to shape and maximize neural plastic changes in the brain after stroke from a multimodal perspective. Active skill based learning is identified as a central element of a restorative approach to rehabilitation. The evidence behind core learning principles as well as specific learning strategies that have been applied to retrain lost functions of movement, sensation, cognition and language are also discussed. Current interventions are evaluated relative to this knowledge base and examples are given of how active learning principles have been successfully applied in specific interventions. The benefits and evidence behind enriched environments is reviewed with examples of potential application in stroke rehabilitation. The capacity of adjunctive therapies, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, to modulate receptivity of the damaged brain to benefit from behavioral interventions is also discussed in the context of this multimodal approach. Focusing on new insights from neuroscience and imaging, the book explores the potential to tailor interventions to the individual based on viable brain networks.
Janet Carr and Roberta Shepherd head up a new team of eminent authors for the second edition of this definitive text on neurological physiotherapy. In the first edition, the authors described a model of neurological rehabilitation for individuals with motor dysfunction based on scientific research in the areas of neuromuscular control, biomechanics, motor skill learning, and the link between cognition and action, together with developments in pathology and adaptation. The new edition continues to advance this model while identifying and incorporating the many advances that have occurred in the last decade in the understanding and treatment of adults with neurological conditions, whether caused by accident or disease. Among these advances is the knowledge that the brain retains a plastic potential to reorganize, even in old and/or lesioned brains, and that neural plasticity can be influenced by task-related mental and physical practice in a stimulating environment. There is also an increasing body of knowledge related to the musculoskeletal system's adaptability and the need to prevent length and stiffness- related changes in muscle contractility, together with loss of aerobic fitness and endurance. There is an expanding body of clinical research that appears to support the model provided here. The training guidelines outlined in Neurological Rehabilitation are based on biomechanical constructs and motor relearning research, applied to enhance brain reorganization and muscle contractility, and encourage functional recovery of the patient. It connects science and clinical practice enabling students and practitioners to develop their knowledge and use new clinical methods based on modern scientific understanding. All chapters have been revised, some with the collaboration of five specialists who are engaged in high level scientific research and clinical practice Biomechanical models are presented to provide a framework for action-specific training and exercise to improve performance Clinical guidelines are science- and evidence-based Emphasis is on new approaches to the delivery of neurological rehabilitation that increase the time spent in mental and physical activity, and the intensity of practice and exercise Up-to-date referencing
Part of the Oxford Textbooks in Clinical Neurology series, this textbook will provide the reader with an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of neurorehabilitation, as well as a clear idea about how (and why) to approach treatment decisions in individual patients.
This Handbook of Clinical Neurology volume provides a comprehensive multidisciplinary guide to neuroplasticity. Part I of the book summarizes the basic mechanisms of neuroplasticity. Part II focuses on neuroplasticity in movement disorders. Part III focuses on brain oscillations in neurological disorders. Part IV segues into plasticity in neurorehabilitation. Part V summarizes issues of inflammation and autoimmunity in neuroplasticity. The book concludes with part VI on neuroplasticity and psychiatric disorders. Covers basic mechanisms to clinical treatment of neurological disorders Includes inflammation, autoimmunity, genetics, neurophysiology and more Encompasses stroke, Alzheimer's, movement, and psychiatric disorders Provides tools for enhancing recovery
This volume makes clear that the cognitive and behavioural symptoms of neurologic disorders and syndromes are dynamic and changing. Each chapter describes the neuroplastic processes at work in a particular condition, giving rise to these ongoing cognitive changes.
With the contribution from more than one hundred CNS neurotrauma experts, this book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account on the latest developments in the area of neurotrauma including biomarker studies, experimental models, diagnostic methods, and neurotherapeutic intervention strategies in brain injury research. It discusses neurotrauma mechanisms, biomarker discovery, and neurocognitive and neurobehavioral deficits. Also included are medical interventions and recent neurotherapeutics used in the area of brain injury that have been translated to the area of rehabilitation research. In addition, a section is devoted to models of milder CNS injury, including sports injuries.
