Brain Injury Support Leaflet. Health Touch Team: (011)

Transcription

1 Brain Injury Support Leaflet Health Touch Team: (011)

2 Member support information There are many organisations that specialise in giving help and support to people affected by different kinds of trauma. Here are the details of some of the organisations you can contact for support now and in the future. Headway Gauteng the support group for families affected by Brain Injury Headway Gauteng aims to provide a place of belonging for survivors of brain injury; they also offer various support programmes and counselling to both the survivors of brain injuries and their families. Headway offers information, practical advice and a better understanding about what it will mean for the future and how the family can make a meaningful contribution to the recovery of the injured individual. While Headway Gauteng is not a rehabilitation centre or clinic, everything they do is therapeutic in nature with a focus on constructive, productive activities that encourage interaction and independence. They understand that a great amount of strain is placed on all members of the injured family and that financial resources for professional services are often exhausted in the early days following the accident. For this reason, their services are provided by a team of trained volunteer counsellors whose collective energy and caring spirit ensure the successful running of their programmes. Contact Details: Tel: BabyGym and Mind Moves A brain injury is not a life-sentence. The brain is mouldable and when nature s brain developmental recipe is followed, there is hope. Brain development relies on the stimulation of the senses and muscles, is sequential and driven by the primitive reflex system to protect and develop the mechanics and skills needed for sucking, eating, keeping the head up and stable, rotating the trunk in preparation for rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, and talking. Each developmental milestone is not only about the movements that you can see; reaching a developmental milestone shows something you cannot see: the development of the brain. Every developmental milestone reached shows that another part of the brain has developed successfully and precedes independence, the ultimate goal. Dr Melodie de Jager is a South African Developmental Specialist and the Founder of BabyGym Institute SA and Mind Moves Institute, both these Institutes promote the importance of physical development to optimise brain and whole child/person development. BabyGym has been designed for babies and people who cannot move independently and/ or talk audibly. Mind Moves were developed for people who move independently but who want to enhance their quality of life. Both BabyGym and Mind Moves have been found effective for rehabilitating children and adults who suffer from brain damage, a traumatic brain injury, a stroke, or an acquired brain injury. The sooner BabyGym / Mind Moves are applied the greater the improvement in physical and brain development. Contact Details: Tel: Discovery Trauma Support Service Discovery Health members, their families, colleagues, peers and others directly affected by a traumatic event or medical emergency, have access to a 24-hour a day, seven days a week, face-to-face counselling service. Counselling will be provided by trained trauma counsellors and is available in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.. Contact Details: Tel: Please make sure you make the right choice Discovery Health has provided you with this information from details that the relevant organisations or groups have sent to us. The provision of this information in no way constitutes any endorsement or recommendation by Discovery Health. Discovery Health has tried to ensure that the information about the organisations or groups is correct and reliable. Please use this as a guide only. You should take the necessary measures to ensure that any decision you make is appropriate for your individual circumstances. Discovery Health will not be liable for any consequences resulting from reliance on this information.. Discovery Health (Pty) Ltd; registration number 1997/013480/07, an authorised financial services provider, administers the Discovery Health Medical Scheme; registration number 1125

3 1 DISCOVERY HEALTH BabyGym and Mind Moves Brain Injury Support PART 1 A whole new world has opened up for BabyGym and Mind Moves Instructors with Discovery Health s Brain Injury Support leaflet. It is wonderful and exciting to think that the BabyGym and Mind Moves Institute s were asked to be one of two recommended support organisations for babies, children and adults who suffer from: brain damage a traumatic brain injury a stroke or an acquired brain injury. It is wonderful and exciting to think that Discovery will be marketing both BabyGym and Mind Moves free of charge. As you can see on the leaflet we ve made the difference between BabyGym and Mind Moves simple and clear: BabyGym is for babies and people who cannot move independently and/ or talk audibly Mind Moves is for people who move independently but who want to enhance their quality of life. Acquired Brain Injury can be temporary or continuing and can cause partial or total functional disability or psychological difficulties. The most common cause of brain injury is a blow to the head, such as in a motor vehicle crash, a fall, a violent assault, or an industrial accident. It s the number one killer and disabler of children and adults under the age of 45. In British Columbia alone, between 21 and 38 individuals sustain brain injury each day. The injuries can be severe and impact the central nervous system, often resulting in mobility and other physical difficulties, challenges with reasoning and thinking, and emotional and behavioral problems. Other causes of brain injury include stroke, brain aneurysm, brain tumors, viruses, substance abuse, etc How will this work? Families of people who have suffered brain injury can either phone the Institute OR go to BabyGym and Mind Moves websites and contact you (the Instructor) directly for support. A new registration category: Discovery referrals will be added to the registration tab, and a new registration form has been designed for these unique registrations. All Discovery referrals, regardless of age, should be registered under this tab. Because not all brain injury patients will be babies, we propose that you recommend the book brain

4 2 development MILESTONES and learning because both BabyGym and Mind Moves solutions are offered in this book. Like all other registrations, a BabyGym Instructor will receive 1 Bubble points per Discovery referral registration, and this will also count towards your minimum of 20 babies per annum. 2. What will they pay? Each baby/ child/ adult who suffers from brain injury will have different needs and a different period of treatment, but we propose that the standard R per individual hour of BabyGym be billed for your time and service. The brain development MILESTONES and learning book costs R ex. VAT (R inc VAT) and must be taken into consideration to your cost structure. An example of a cost structure: First appointment: R hour of BabyGym R Book- brain development MILESTONES and learning R Total for first appointment The BabyGym Instructor pays a once off fee of R50.00 ex. VAT (R57.00 inc VAT) per registration, as a registration/ royalty fee to the BabyGym Institute. 3. Will Discovery Medical Aid pay for BabyGym and Mind Moves No. Discovery simply refers clients to BabyGym and Mind Moves Instructors. 4. What will the brain injury patient receive If they indicated that they would like the book brain development MILESTONES and learning, they will use it as a guide throughout treatment. No other items are included in the fee. 5. Where do you start? WE START AT THE VERY BEGINNING! Relax. Rub your Vagus nerve. Breathe deeply and slowly. Let the mental lift go to the top storey. You can do this! Brain injuries follow the same recipe as the one we use for brain development Irrespective whether you are a BabyGym or a Mind Moves Instructor, the underlying principles of brain development for a baby is the same as for a person who has suffered a brain injury: you start at the very beginning which means you start to re-establish the body map. Instructors, you HAVE to read the book brain development MILESTONES and learning yourself to be ready to work with these clients.

5 3 A body map is the most fundamental piece in the brain developmental puzzle. Remember: the brain can only control what it is aware of Body Map Step 1 in establishing a body map is deep pressure TOUCH to activate the proprioceptors. Proprioceptors are the cameras in the skin, muscles and joints that tell the brain what body parts are there and where the body parts fit in the map. Think of a body map as a puzzle and each body part is on a different puzzle piece, you need to join all the pieces to form a whole puzzle/map so the client can be aware of the parts and next that they can move. Movement of the mouth, hands and feet are very important for independence. Focus on all the BabyGym and Mind Moves activities to create a body map with focus on mouth, hands and feet. Step 2 is to create a 3D map that can indicate which body part is moving within what range. The 3 D map develops when the body starts moving against the pull of gravity to develop muscle tone. Movement & balance activates the vestibular system. Often, these clients cannot move their own bodies. NO PROBLEM. It is just like working with a baby you do the work; you train a family member or care giver to do the movements; do the movements until enough awareness and strength have developed for the client to start to move him/herself. Remember: Physical development starts from top to bottom (head toe) and from inside to outside (core to extremities: mouth, fingers, toes, eyes) Remember: There are six directions of movement. Forwards, backward; up and down; left and right. Balance Body Map

6 4 Step 1 is to stimulate basic movement. Basic movement starts when the Moro reflex is activated. For this you need to jolt the brain into awareness to activate the 3D body map. Jolting happens when there is sudden and unexpected movement. Be careful not to over-do this. Start slowly. This is done while lying flat on the floor or bed. The sequence is important. Hold the feet and gently push forwards till the body moves forwards (away from you) and then pull backwards (towards you). Repeat 10 times. Rest. Repeat another 10 times. Rest. Repeat the last 10 times. The body will not move position, it stays in the same spot. This movement is more like rocking without lifting. Rocking while client is on tummy improves gravitational security (feeling safe and grounded). Turn client over and do the same while lying on back. Step 2 Client lies across a gym ball and you just bounce client forward and backward; up and down and then left to right. Step 3 If client is in a pram/wheel chair, create vibration: push the pram/wheelchair over a variety of terrain: gravel, paving, tar, up and down a ramp; up and down a lift. Step 4 the caregiver continuous to massage daily while steps 1-4 are added. Encourage passive movement: place an injured baby on a 80% inflated small Lillo so the surface is not too solid for baby to experience some movement while lying down; sit in a rocking chair, sit or lie in a swing; float with help in a pool; lie on a trampoline while someone is jumping gently. Sudden movement often makes a client feel anxious, because the client feels out of control and / or the client may make involuntary and uncontrolled body movements (twitching and shaking). Either way, the client needs to feel safe after the vestibular system has been jolted into action and that is where grasping comes in. People grasp with their mouths, hands, feet and eyes. SUCKING while the client is lying down. Lying flat down on the back and on the tummy is the first position from where to stimulate movement. But before we get to whole body movement, we need to stimulate movement of the mouth: SUCKING & SUCKLING. Why? Because SUCKING soothes. Sucking activates the emotional brain so the client can move out of the survival brain; relearn how it feels to relax the tensed up and stiff muscles; slow down heartbeat and breathing; boost the immune system and releases feel-good hormones. Sucking Balance Body Map

7 5 How do you stimulate SUCKING: Rub the Vagus nerve Massage the lips inside and outside to improve awareness of the lips a person can only use what he/she is aware of (BabyGym Week 3; Mind Moves Rooting & Sucking) Massage just below the bottom lip while other hand rests on navel Massage area between top lip and nose while other hand massages the coccyx Tease the cheeks with finger and a variety of textures to encourage the head to turn Now stimulate SUCKLING by massaging the crown of the head Massage the middle of the palm of each hand. You may battle with this, because their hands are often closed very tightly. Work hard to open the hand: an open hand is a developing hand. Hands = independence (BabyGym Week 1; Mind Moves hand massage) Massage the feet (BabyGym Week 1; Mind Moves foot massage) Encourage to drink from a bottle. To be continued You do not have to work with brain injured clients, but your license has equipped you to give these people hope and to empower them to move closer to independence. You can give hope!

8 Patients details Name: Birth date: Hospital/ Rehabilitation centre: Residential address: BabyGym for brain injury Surname: Sex: Province: Language of preference: Next of kin: Name: Contact number: Surname: address: Remarks Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 TERMS AND CONDITIONS I fully understand that neither (BabyGym Instructor) nor BabyGym Institute South Africa will be held liable for any loss, damage, and injury of whatever nature whether consequential or otherwise however caused. I give (BabyGym Instructor) permission to practice BabyGym on the above mentioned patient. Signature Date