–   NOVEMBER 2020   –

Introducing your neurological physiotherapist

At Active Edge Physiotherapy, we’re mobile neurological physiotherapists. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but let me explain what it is we do.

The therapy we provide helps people recover movement after injury to the brain, spinal cord, vestibular and other nerve related injuries or diseases. It’s our job to assess any impairments, identify the reasons behind the issues and tailor a recovery program to target the root cause. It’s critical with any brain or spinal cord injury to treat the issue accurately and holistically, to ensure you have the best chance of a strong recovery or the best opportunity to manage your symptoms. A life changing traumatic event which can cause neurological issues, or the onset of a neurological or degenerative disease can be overwhelming at first. It can be hard to know where to turn, how to access help and how to make the most out of the health situation you now face.

Effective carriage of these messages, enables you to more efficiently complete functional tasks such as rolling, sitting on the edge of the bed, standing up and walking. As neurological physiotherapists, we focus on our client’s whole body – understanding which part of the brain is impacted by the injury or disease, we relate this to the symptoms shown by the client. This differs to a general or musculoskeletal physiotherapist, who may just focus on one joint, or the problem area. Our brains are incredible but complex organs, they are able to adapt or change through something called neuroplasticity.  Imagine your brain is full of millions of tiny little wires, all connected and interlinked – when one of the connections is damaged, a neurological physiotherapist can work to reconnect that link or remould the neuronal pathways to find one which will work. It’s not too different to your car sat nav finding an alternative route, when you come across an accident or traffic – it helps you to find another way to get to your destination.

Of course, the main aim of any physiotherapy is to improve or manage your symptoms and help you to live the best life you can. Some of the symptoms which frequently arise with brain or spinal cord injuries can be weak muscles, balance issues and muscle tone and spasticity (muscles can find it hard to ‘switch off’ and get extremely tight and uncomfortable).

Many of our clients are home based, some recently released from hospital, meaning that we understand you can’t or would find it difficult to travel to a physiotherapy practice. We come to your home, where we can work with you in a familiar, comfortable setting on a regular basis to start managing or relieving your symptoms. We can show you how to do any exercises in your own setting and can save you, or your family the discomfort of needing to get in a car to reach us. Being in your own environment can make the world of difference for your recovery and general wellbeing.

If you, or someone you love has a brain or spinal cord injury, make sure you seek an expert team to support them in their recovery or management of their symptoms. We’re here to help, whenever you need us.