The Future of Rehabilitation: Neuro-rehabilitation

The past several years of neuroscience research have yielded exciting findings for people with stroke. Perhaps the most important concept that has emerged is that the brain can reorganize itself in order to perform a function that was lost as a result brain damage. It is still unclear how this happens, but once the brain realizes that one of its areas has stopped working, it allows for other areas to slowly take over.

For instance, when hand movements are lost because of a stroke, they can be partially recovered when areas in both sides of the brain work together to regain movement of the affected hand. This reassignment of function happens naturally through poorly understood connections across multiple areas of the brain. The great news is that, as researchers untangle these complex connections, we are learning that it might be possible to enhance and even to promote these changes in the brain in order to maximize recovery. This has been accomplished experimentally with certain interventions and exercise programs.

The new goal of this novel approach to rehabilitation therapy is to artificially change brain activity during rehabilitation as to increase the amount of brain that can potentially be reassigned to perform the movement that was lost. Some promising techniques have accomplished this by dampening brain activity in selected areas of the brain during rehabilitation sessions in order to increase the likelihood that they can be reassigned or unleashed to perform other functions. For instance, a person whose right hand is affected by a stroke might be asked to perform exercises with the right hand after the left hand is made numb with numbing medicine. This is done to dampen brain activity in the left hand area of the brain thus increasing the likelihood that this area can be partially reassigned, or unleashed, to control the right hand.

Neuroscience has brought us to an exciting time in stroke rehabilitation. As new studies make progress in this field, new rehabilitation techniques will become available to maximize your recovery.