What is a head injury?
A head injury, or brain injury is the term used for any injury or trauma to the brain. The most common causes are road traffic accidents, assaults, falls and accidents at home or at work.
The brain sits inside the skull, cushioned by fluid, however a direct impact or sudden trauma to the head can cause the brain to move and bump into the surface of the skull. This can result in damage to the blood vessels in the brain and cause tears or bruising to the brain tissue. These injuries can cause bleeding, blood clots or a build-up of fluid inside or around the brain.
If the brain is denied blood or oxygen or is put under too much pressure the brain tissue can be damaged. The extent of the damage depends on a number of factors including the type of injury, the location in the brain and the severity of the injury.
How would a head injury affect me?
The effects of a head injury vary significantly from person to person.You may experience changes or difficulties with your emotions or behaviour, your thinking skills (such as memory or concentration) or your physical abilities.
The brain is responsible for generating the messages to tell our body to function. After a head injury the brain may be unable to generate these messages or the messages are ‘jumbled’ and incomplete. The result is that the body doesn’t work in the way you want it to. Consequently day to day activities such as balance, walking and arm and hand movements are all affected.
The role of Physiotherapy after head injury
Head injury Physiotherapy treatment can help with impaired or even lost physical functions, for example:
- Posture management
- Balance
- Leg & foot function
- Walking
- Hand & arm function
- Spasticity
- Spasm
- Pain
Physiotherapy after a head injury aims to address a number of key areas which can dramatically change a person’s ability to do day to day activities and maximise their independence in all aspects of life, including leisure and vocational activities.
The first step to recovery after a brain injury is to improve posture. This means putting the right muscle in the right place, at the right time, so that it can work most efficiently. This is essential for balance, walking and arm and hand function.
Physiotherapy can help re-educate poor balance by working on the specific muscle weakness that causes difficulties with balance.
If you have difficulties with your balance it is likely that your walking is a challenge as well and makes you feel as if you are likely to fall. There are a number of reasons why walking maybe affected after a head injury. It may be general or specific muscle weakness. The general weakness can be addressed by various types of exercise. If it is a more specific weakness the treatment is likely to be more specialised using rehabilitation technology as well as hands on physiotherapy. The most common of these is the treatment for drop foot with
Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). Even if you are wheelchair dependant following a head injury a thorough physiotherapy assessment might reveal difficulties that can be improved upon.
A common problem following head injury is poor function in the hands. We frequently see that the head injury survivor is able to grasp an object but then not be able to let go of it! Physiotherapy can help teach someone how to regain the use of their hand by using specialist equipment such as a muscle stimulator or
Saebo products. These pieces of equipment in combination with physiotherapy can help relax the tight muscles that close the hand and strengthen the muscles required to open the hand.
Many people, after a brain injury, suffer with muscle spasms or stiffness in the muscles which we call spasticity. This results in alterations in the movements of the body and can limit what you are able to do. The physiotherapist can help reduce the problems associated with this type of altered muscle function. We may use a number of different treatment approaches including the use of splints or orthoses or working with the Doctors to help with the prescription of medication. We will also help to re-train the altered movements that can encourage the spasms and stiffness so that the muscle is doing what it is designed to do.
Physiotherapy can also help if you have pain following your head injury. Often pain is caused by the muscles not working as they should or by the altered ways of moving that develop after a head injury. By re-educating movement patterns and addressing weak or tight muscles pain can be significantly reduced.
I think PhysioFunction can help me, what do I do now?
Please call the free phone number for your appropriate area for a free telephone consultation. This phone call could be the start of a new life for you after your head injury.
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