Neurological rehabilitation: its fundamental role

Neurological rehabilitation is a branch of medicine that has enjoyed an important boost since the last century. Neurorehabilitation has managed to carve out an important space within the medical and scientific world, taking care of the whole process of orientation of the patient towards a rehabilitation itinerary, aimed at functional recovery from injuries to the central nervous system and neurological disorders.

With the term rehabilitation, within the medical branch, we commonly refer to any process oriented to the achievement and, subsequently, maintenance of the best functional levels in the patient, whether they concern the sensory, physical, psychological, or intellectual field, keeping an eye also on social needs and dynamics. 

A real recipe, therefore, which aims to provide the patient in care with all the tools necessary to return to reach that degree of autonomy in decision-making and independence (or at least come close to it) that characterized the patient’s life before incurring the problem of reference.

We are therefore faced with a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, designed to improve the levels of functionality of patients, thus reducing their symptoms and increasing their sense of well-being. It is precisely in this perspective that paying attention becomes fundamental for the social integration of the patient, while at the same time providing a path capable of following the possible psychological implications. 

What are the causes of trauma and injury for which neurorehabilitation becomes necessary?  

Going into more detail and referring to neurological rehabilitation, we are going into that process aimed at all those people who have incurred secondary disability or a lesion of the nervous system. 

The neurological rehabilitation process can begin once the acute phase of treatment predisposed to the brain injury is finished, the latter is usually caused by traumatic events or pathologies such as:¹: 

• stroke. 
• Parkinson’s disease 
• head injury
• cerebral palsy
• multiple sclerosis

Steps in the path of neurological rehabilitation

Once this medical branch has been properly located within the reference sector and, once the conditions for such treatment have been addressed, the first thing to do consists in a series of comprehensive neurophysiology tests: 

• electrocardiogram
• electroencephalogram 

These two tests allow us to have a comprehensive view of the condition and needs of each neurological patient. Once the type of treatment has been identified, various branches of medicine may be involved in the rehabilitation process:²: 

• Physiotherapy: through which the patient can improve by working on those physical problems that, generally, can manifest as a result of injury or brain disease.

• Occupational therapy: treatment aimed at teaching new methodologies, both to support the reintegration of the patient into their work field and to re-educate them to carry out daily activities, independently
• Speech therapy: through this branch of medicine, the patient is helped in overcoming difficulties related to speech and swallowing (these problems are generally identified as consequences of a stroke).
• Psychotherapy: treatment aimed at treating mental disorders and the various pathologies associated with them.
• Techniques for visual therapy: approach focused on improving and correcting eye motility.

Neurological rehabilitation has therefore succeeded in establishing itself in a highly specialized field, thus intertwining various branches of medicine and quickly becoming a pillar in the medical and scientific panorama.

Bigliography

1. Topdoctorsitalia.it | Neuroriabilitazione.
2. Ibid.