What is neurological physiotherapy?
Neurological physiotherapy, sometimes called 'neuro rehab', is a specific area of physiotherapy practice that focuses on the treatment of neurological conditions.
Neurological conditions are disorders, diseases, or injuries that affect the functioning of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. For example:
- Stroke
- Acquired brain injuries
- Parkinson's disease & Parkinson's-plus conditions
- Spinal cord injuries
- Neuropathies
- Multiple sclerosis
Neurological conditions can affect the body in many different ways. They can cause neurological weakness, changes in sensation, cognitive (thinking) changes, coordination and balance problems, and many other changes. These can affect a person's mobility, function, and independence.
Neurological physiotherapy uses therapies specifically designed for neurological conditions to address these changes and work towards optimizing a person's function and independence.
What does neurological physiotherapy involve?
Every person and condition is different, but neurological physiotherapy may involve therapies such as:
- Hands-on stroke/brain injury therapies from the Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT) and Bobath treatment approaches.
- Functional mobility training to improve movement skills like transfers, standing up, moving around in bed, and walking.
- Parkinson's-specific exercises that work on things like increasing the size of movements and improving walking problems like shuffling and freezing.
- Strengthening exercises to work on neurological-type weakness.
- Balance training to improve balance and reduce falls risk.
- Exercise and hands-on therapies to treat hand and arm dysfunction after stroke.
- Cardiovascular training to improve activity tolerance and endurance.
Don't hesitate to reach out to our team if you have any questions about neurological physiotherapy or our treatment approaches!