• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

Retooling cognitive rehabilitation for patients with traumatic brain injury

September 24, 2012 by Alvaro Fernandez

Our col­league Kate Sul­li­van, who led a superb Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit work­shop on How to Set Up a Brain Fit­ness Cen­ter to Enhance Cog­ni­tive Retrain­ing and Reha­bil­i­ta­tion, based on her expe­ri­ence at Wal­ter Reed Nation­al Mil­i­tary Med­ical Cen­ter, just alert­ed us of a new study pre­pared by her team: Out­comes from a Pilot Study using Com­put­er-Based Reha­bil­i­ta­tive Tools in a Mil­i­tary Pop­u­la­tion (Stud­ies in Health Tech­nol­o­gy and Informatics).

  • Abstract: Nov­el ther­a­peu­tic approach­es and out­come data are need­ed for cog­ni­tive reha­bil­i­ta­tion for patients with a trau­mat­ic brain injury; com­put­er-based pro­grams may play a crit­i­cal role in fill­ing exist­ing knowl­edge gaps. Brain-fit­ness com­put­er pro­grams can com­ple­ment exist­ing ther­a­pies, max­i­mize neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, pro­vide treat­ment beyond the clin­ic, and deliv­er objec­tive effi­ca­cy data. How­ev­er, these approach­es have not been exten­sive­ly stud­ied in the mil­i­tary and trau­mat­ic brain injury pop­u­la­tion. Wal­ter Reed Nation­al Mil­i­tary Med­ical Cen­ter estab­lished its Brain Fit­ness Cen­ter (BFC) in 2008 as an adjunct to tra­di­tion­al cog­ni­tive ther­a­pies for wound­ed war­riors. The BFC offers com­mer­cial­ly avail­able “brain-train­ing” prod­ucts for mil­i­tary Ser­vice Mem­bers to use in a sup­port­ive, struc­tured envi­ron­ment. Over 250 Ser­vice Mem­bers have uti­lized this ther­a­peu­tic inter­ven­tion. Each patient receives sub­jec­tive assess­ments pre and post BFC par­tic­i­pa­tion includ­ing the Mayo-Port­land Adapt­abil­i­ty Inventory‑4 (MPAI‑4), the Neu­robe­hav­ioral Symp­tom Inven­to­ry (NBSI), and the Sat­is­fac­tion with Life Scale (SWLS). A review of the first 29 BFC par­tic­i­pants, who fin­ished ini­tial and repeat mea­sures, was com­plet­ed to deter­mine the effec­tive­ness of the BFC pro­gram. Two of the three ques­tion­naires of self-report­ed symp­tom change com­plet­ed before and after par­tic­i­pa­tion in the BFC revealed a sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in symp­tom sever­i­ty based on MPAI and NBSI total scores (p < .05). There were no sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ences in the SWLS score. Despite the typ­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions of a ret­ro­spec­tive chart review, such as vari­a­tion in treat­ment pro­ce­dures, pre­lim­i­nary results reveal a trend towards improved self-report­ed cog­ni­tive and func­tion­al symptoms.

To Learn More

  • Study: Out­comes from a Pilot Study using Com­put­er-Based Reha­bil­i­ta­tive Tools in a Mil­i­tary Pop­u­la­tion (requires registration)
  • Work­shop: How to Set Up a Brain Fit­ness Cen­ter to Enhance Cog­ni­tive Retrain­ing and Reha­bil­i­ta­tion (requires registration)

Pic: cour­tesy of Kate Sulivan

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health, Technology & Innovation Tagged With: Brain-Fitness, Brain-Fitness-Center, brain-fitness-programs, Brain-Training, cog­ni­tive retrain­ing, cognitive therapies, cognitive-rehabilitation, neuroplasticity, Traumatic-Brain-Injury, Walter Reed

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 35,342 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2022 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.