CONVENTIONAL TREATMENTS

Physical therapy is used to get the patient's  muscles back into shape after being stretched from the injury.

Occupational therapy is used to help the patient build daily living skills, fine motor and social skills. It is to help them return to everyday tasks at home or school.

Vocational therapy is used to help the patient with training to their overall functioning that targets different skills for working.

Speech & language therapy is for helping the patient regain communication and hearing disorders from the injury. It also helps with their concentration, comprehension and listening skills.

Cognitive therapy is used to help the patient with modifying their environment to help with everyday functioning. It is to help with the patient's reasoning, thinking and eliminate most of their frustrations.

Special education is used mainly for children. It helps them to find new approaches to learning. However, it can help some adults as well after TBI.

Psychotherapy is used to help deal with the behavioral and emotional problems a patient has following a TBI. It is important to have a therapist with knowledge of this type of injury. 

Behavior medicine approaches help with teaching better responses to the patient's pain and tension. 

Traditional therapy helps the patients understand the changes they now have in their life with tBI. With this a patient also needs a counselor farmiliar with tBI.

A family doctor or psychiatrist can prescribe medications to help with the patients moods. This is not an answer to all of the symptoms and should be used only if the patient is receiving other methods of treatment to coincide with the medications.

ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

These methods can be used with traditional methods for treatment. This is based on an individual patients desire to try these approaches.

Acupuncture can help a lot. Be sure the person is certified. An acupuncturist with a L.Ac. or Lic.Ac. follwing their name is state licensed. One with a Dipl.Ac. after their name is board certified.

Chiropractic works on manipulating nerves to restore dree movement and nerve functioning. 

Homeopathy is a method to help a patient's body heal itself. Most states do not have licensing boards for such physicians. Always check credentials before using one. If they are state licensed they will have a D.Hts. at the end of their name.

Herbology is tailored to a patients specific needs. It is recommended to check the herbologist experience prior to using them. There is no state certification for them. Some states have certification programs and special training available to a herbologist, but it is not required.

It is difficult to find a practitioner with experience in dealing with TBI. A patient should look for a different practitioner if they are making no progress at all. Being reasonable and having patience with what is expected for progress will help the patient more.

Things to ask a potential practitioner are:

How many cases of TBI have they been involved with personally in the last three years? If only a few, seek someone else.

Have they attended seminars or conferences in the past two years regarding TBI? If none, go elsewhere.

What percent of their practice is devoted to patients with TBI? If under 5% go elsewhere. If 30% that is great!

Have they written any articles on TBIin the past three years? If they have, ask what type of article. Where it was published means nothing.

Ask what textbooks they refer to for information about TBI. Check the publication dates. They should be fairly current.

Subscription to a periodical or magazine does not make the doctor competent, but it is a desirable trait. Ask if they subscribe to "TBI Challenge" magazine, "Head Injury Update", "Headlines" magazine, "The Perspectives Network" magazine or any others.

If a practitioner has more experience and interest in the field of TBI, they will be better able to assit you in recovery.

This page maintained by Belle
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