Tutors Effective Tool for TBI Rehabilitation.

A leading cause of death and disability among persons in the United States is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Yearly, an estimated one and a half million Americans sustain a TBI. 50,000 people die, 230,000 people are hospitalized and survive, and approximately 80,000-90,000 people experience the onset of long-term disability resulting from these injuries.
In patient hospitalization rates have declined since more improvements are made in treatment and the patients can be treated in outpatient units instead. The large amount of TBI in the United States requires public health measures to prevent these injuries and to improve their consequences. Surveillance systems run by the state can provide reliable data on injury causes and risk factors, identify trends in TBI incidence, enable the development of cause-specific prevention strategies focused on populations with the greatest risk, and monitor how effective these programs are. State follow-up registries, built on surveillance systems, can provide more information regarding the frequency and nature of disabilities associated with TBI. This information can help states and communities design, implement, and evaluate cost-effective programs for people living with TBI and for their families, addressing acute care, rehabilitation, and vocational, community support and school .
During the physical rehabilitation process the TUTORS (HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR) play an important role for TBI patients.
The newly developed HANDTUTOR, for example, have become a key system in neuromuscular rehabilitation for TBI and stroke victims and those recovering from spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s, MS, CP and other limb movement limitations. These innovative devices implement an impairment based program with augmented motion feedback that encourages motor learning through intensive active exercises and movement practice. The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR consist of wearable glove and braces that detect limb movements showing the patient how much active or assisted active movement they are actually accomplishing. The rehabilitation software uses special rehabilitation games to set a new target in terms of the patient’s ability to move their limb. The devices then measure the limb movement and give feedback on the success of the patient in this new objective. In this way the patient is given feedback that allows the patient to understand which effort is more successful in allowing them to move their affected limb again. Subsequently the TUTOR system provides exercises that are challenging and motivating and allow for repetitive and intensive exercise practice. The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR are now part of the rehabilitation program of leading U.S. German, Italian, French, UK and other foreign hospitals. See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.