Walk Again Post Brain Injury
Recovery is Possible
Design Features & Benefits
Use the Gait Harness System to Walk Again Post Brain Injury
The Second Step Gait Harness System can help with relearning to walk after brain injury
After a Brain injury the Second Step GHS can help
Often, the devastating effects of a brain injury are not fully understood until after the patient has completed medical treatment in an ICU and has entered rehabilitation
Long-term disability is a frequent sequel of severe brain injury and takes the form of persisting motor impairments that impact walking and autonomous movement. To improve environmental negotiation and basic care skills, independent gait is an essential therapy goal for BI patients.
For a brain injury survivor, learning to walk again should be a top priority.
The Second Step GHS helps Brain Injury Survivors by Keeping everyone safe, the user, healthcare Practitioners, and home Caregivers
Relearning to Walk After Brain Injury: Recovery is Possible
Most people who have had a significant brain injury will require long-term rehabilitation. They may need to relearn basic skills, such as walking or talking. The goal is to improve their abilities to perform daily activities.
The Gait Harness system can help
Therapy usually begins in the hospital and continues at an inpatient rehabilitation unit, a residential treatment facility or through outpatient services. The type and duration of rehabilitation varies by individual, depending on the severity of the brain injury and what part of the brain was injured.
Physical therapy programs should be designed to help with mobility and relearning movement patterns, balance and how to stand and walk again. Brain injury survivors may need to go slowly.
Many of our GHS clients see consistent standing and walking progress in the months, years, or even life span of brain injury recovery. The brain has significant potential to do, adapt, and change, even years after injury.
People with traumatic brain injury (TBI) commonly report problems with balance. Between 30% and 65% of people with TBI suffer from dizziness and disequilibrium (lack of balance while sitting or standing) at some point in their recovery. Dizziness includes symptoms such as lightheadedness, vertigo, and imbalance.
A patient’s balance may be shaky if the cerebellum is injured. Along with weakness and loss of balance, many brain injured patients experience sensory deficits. The GHS improves
Injury to the motor portion of the brain can also diminish muscle tone and control, another obstacle to walking. Muscles can lose the ability to contract altogether or, on the contrary, become overly contracted and too rigid to allow a simple walking motion.
A patient’s rehabilitation should start as soon as he or she is stable. Established guidelines, as well as a huge body of literature, insist that the earlier therapy is initiated the better.
Before walking begins, a practitioner may guide the patient through pre-walking exercises to ready other pertinent muscles. If a patient’s trunk muscles were affected, causing him or her to lean to one side or to the front, therapy may start with core strengthening exercises in a sitting position.
The next step might be to work on standing until the patient feels anchored and secure. Learning to walk again involves scores of muscles and many isolated movements. Caregiver/practitioner and patient should approach the complex act of learning to stand and walk again in a safe, supported manner.
Physical activity remains a cornerstone in risk-reduction therapies for the treatment of brain injury. Regardless of how a brain injury survivor learns to walk again, one thing is certain: the survivor needs to get safely moving.
The months or years of recovery may seem overwhelming, but brain injury survivors, caregivers, and practitioners need to keep in mind that the potential for progress is always there.
Contact Us Today
We are here to help you
For personalized attention, please call or email us today. We will take the time to answer all your questions about how the Gait Harness System is helping people walk again, and whether it could be right for you.
We will do our best to respond to your request within 24 hours, or on the next business day. All information you provide is strictly confidential and will never be sold or shared with any other person, entity or organization. See our Privacy Policy.
Office hours
Monday – Thursday
9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET
Friday
9:00 am – 3:00 pm ET
Sales Office and Support
P.O. Box 565
Anna Maria, FL 34216-0565
Phone: 941.567.4200
Toll Free: 877.299.STEP (7837)
Fax: 877.299.5428
