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Brain Injuries
South St. Louis Brain Rehab
Our brain injury rehabilitation program in St. Louis offers comprehensive care to address physical dysfunction, cognitive impairments, and behavioral issues. Our therapists have specialized skills and training designed to help them recognize the unique needs of brain-injured individuals and provide consistent and structured rehabilitation.
Our facility offers an electronically secured and video-monitored rehabilitation unit to provide our patients with a secure and safe environment. The unit is equipped with a low-stimulation dayroom to allow individuals to receive three hours of therapy, five days a week. To help patients regain the most function possible after a brain injury, our therapists work with each patient on an individual basis. They implement a therapy plan designed to maximize potential and complement medical interventions by adhering to an interdisciplinary team-based approach to care.
Common Problems of Brain Injuries
Some of the most common problems experienced by patients after brain injury include:
- Weakness or total loss of movement or controlled movement
- Numbness, pain or odd sensations
- Decreased ability to concentrate on tasks
- Difficulty with swallowing
- Difficulty coordinating movements
- Difficulty balancing
- Problems with memory
- Problems with planning and making decisions
- Poor safety awareness
- Difficulty controlling emotions
- Agitation or confusion
- Difficulty with speech – not able to find the “right” word to say
Loss of Function
The loss of function following a brain injury is different for every person. Loss of function is mainly due to:
- The parts of the brain injured
- How much of the brain tissue was damaged
- How much bleeding and swelling occurred from the injury
- Age
- Other medical conditions
- History of a prior brain injury
- Loss of consciousness
Inpatient Rehabilitation Program for Brain Injuries
Just as no two people are alike, no two brain injuries are alike. Treatment and rehabilitation vary from individual to individual. Our therapists are experts in providing individualized, specialized and advanced brain injury rehabilitation. Rehabilitation involves multiple medical team members, including physical medicine rehabilitation, physiatrists, rehabilitation nurses, social workers, case managers, and physical, occupational, and speech therapists. Therapy may include:
- Physical therapy to work on sitting, balancing, walking and transfers
- Occupational therapy to work on dressing, feeding, bathing and other self-care skills
- Speech therapy to work on swallowing, diet recommendations, speech, memory and self-awareness
We use standardized improvement measures to track our patient outcomes and ensure that we are providing evidence-based services that are best suited to assist our patients in making the most gain possible during their therapy. These measures include the length of stay, discharge destination and return to acute care.
Caregiver Support
Family caregivers and friends are critical in the recovery from a brain injury. Family and friends, as well as the brain injury survivor, should be the primary members of the rehabilitation team. Providing care for a person with a brain injury can be a very stressful and frustrating time. It is critical for caregivers to remember to pay attention to their own personal needs in addition to those of the brain injury survivor.
Social workers or any member of the rehabilitation team can offer support to the brain injury survivor’s caregivers, and this is an important component of our rehabilitation program. Team members are prepared to provide family members with information and/or additional resources throughout the rehabilitation process.
Family education about prognosis, how to help a loved one, and how caregivers can get help for themselves is critically important to us.