Complementary medical treatments for TBI’s?
A recent study out of the University of Colorado, Boulder indicates that an ancient form of “complementary” medicine MAY be effective in helping treat people with a mild traumatic brain injury, “TBI”. The treatment known as acupressure, is where one’s fingertips are used to stimulate particular points on a person’s body. The results indicate a link between the acupressure treatments and enhanced cognitive function in the study subjects with mild TBI. The study subjects showed scoring on tests of working memory significantly better when compared to the TBI subjects in the placebo group. This hypothesis suggest that acupressure could be an effective adjunctive therapy for TBI sufferers.
The acupressure treatment type used in this study is called Jin Shin. The practitioners used 26 points on the human body from the head to the feet. These points are found along “meridians” in the body that are associated with specific energy pathways. It is believed that each point is tied to the health of specific organs in the body as well as the entire body and brain. The meridians are described as “freeways” and the pressure points as towns along the way. For example, when there is a traffic jam in Detroit that causes problems as far away as Flint, clearing the traffic jam or “energy blocks” helps to improve the flow, therefore overall health.
The team then used a standard series of neuro-psychological tests to assess the results. The subjects receiving active acupressure treatments, showed increased memory function. Those receiving treatments also responded to stimuli more rapidly than those receiving placebo treatments.
The hope is that the Jin Shin treatment may be useful to military veterans returning home with TBI’s. The treatment can be taught to family and friends of those with TBI and can even be used as a self treatment, which could allow for more independence.
A 2010 study on acupressure concluded that Jin Shin triggered a larger and faster relaxation response during active treatments and a decreased stress response following active treatments compared to placebo treatments. A new study is being embarked upon with Jin Shin with regard to athletes to see if the enhanced relaxation response and decreased stress can reduce the likelihood of athletic injury.
Source: Centre for Neuro Skills, Spring 2011
April 2011 TBI Tidbit provided by Dar Warner, LPN, CBIS. Dar can be contacted at darwarner@dobsonhealthcare.com
First things first…Important to remember…
- A person with a brain injury is a person first
- No two brain injuries are exactly the same
- The effects of any brain injury are complex and vary greatly with each person
- The effects of any brain injury depend on things like cause, location of the brain injury and severity of the injury
Let’s talk about the “lobes” or sections of the brain. There are four: Frontal, Temporal, Parietal and Occipital. This will be very basic information about each of the lobes of the brain. Some behaviors/deficits may be explained by knowing which section of the brain is injured, and by understanding the basic functions of those lobes.
Frontal Lobe: Situated at the front of the skull, the “forehead region”, our frontal lobes are known as our emotional control center and are also, “home to our personality”. The frontal lobe is associated with motor skills, reasoning, higher level awareness/cognition and expressive language. This lobe receives information from other lobes of the brain and utilizes it to carry out body movements.
Temporal Lobes: Located on either side of the skull, above the ear, the temporal lobes are associated with visual and auditory (hearing) input. They provide the organization of the input. Persons with injury to the temporal lobe may have difficulty placing words or pictures into categories. They are highly associated with memory skills. Left temporal injury may result in impaired memory for verbal material, while right temporal injury may result in the inability to recall non verbal material, i.e. music, drawings. Severe damage to the temporal lobe may also increase unfavorable sexual behavior.
Parietal Lobe: The parietal lobe is the middle section of the brain, located near the back and top of the head. This lobe is responsible for processing tactile sensory information such as touch, pain, pressure, etc. An important section of the brain is located in the parietal lobe and is essential to the processing of the body’s senses.
Occipital Lobe: The occipital lobe is located in the back portion of the brain. It is associated with vision. An important section of this lobe of the brain is the primary visual cortex. This area receives and interprets information from the retinas of the eyes. Damage to this lobe can cause a variety of visual disturbances and even blindness.
Again, no two brain injuries are exactly alike. Every person will respond and recover at a different rate. This is just meant to help you to understand a little more on why the deficit you may be seeing with your brain injured loved one, is present.