Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery Strengthened by TUTORS

Published in the Star-Ledger on Friday, December 30, 2011 by Raymond Fredericks was an article explaining that we should refocus public attention on the tens of thousands of service members who fought in Iraq and were affected by traumatic brain injuries — or TBIs — the “signature wound” of the Iraq war.
There was a terrible toll rendered by roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices which brought new attention to TBIs a half dozen years ago but public awareness has diminished with the passage of time. It is important to remain vigilant in addressing TBIs, which clinicians have tagged the “silent epidemic.”
The impact of a TBI is devastating, whether it’s experienced by a service member or a by a civilian. Over 3 million Americans live with permanent TBI-related disabilities. Only 28 percent are competitively employed, 33 percent require at least overnight supervision and 16 percent are institutionalized, among adults who experience moderate or severe TBIs and that receive rehabilitation, one year after injury .
Tremendous progress has been made over the past 10 years in the rehabilitation and treatment of individuals with TBIs, but statistics indicate that more must be done to fully understand and address the many medical complications caused by these injuries. The federal government has taken a lead role in supporting critical research on this topic.
In the forefront of treatment during physical therapy for TBI are the HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR. Rehabilitation using the TUTORS is being done in the USA at major rehabiliaiton in-patient and out-patient centers as well as at private physical therapy clinics. Many patients including stroke and cerebral palsy as well as those who have had a TBI or spinal cord injury can also avail themselves of the TUTOR system through the use of tele rehabilitation. The TUTORS have been developed to allow for functional rehabilitation of the whole body including the upper and lower extremity. The system consists of ergonomic wearable devices and dedicated rehabilitation software that provide patient instructions and feedback to encourage intensive massed controlled exercise practice. In this way, the TUTOR system allows for controlled exercise of multijoints within the normal movement pattern which prevents the development of undesired and compensatory joint movement and therefore ensures better performance of functional tasks. This is important in stroke, brain, spinal cord (SCI) and Cerebral palsy rehabilitation in addition to other neurological and orthopedic injury and disease.
Additional features of the TUTOR system include quantitative evaluation and objective follow up that is important in the physiotherapists treatment of the stroke patient. The TUTORS are FDA and CE certified. The new medical devices in the TUTOR system are available for children as well as adults. See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.