Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital announced today that it has introduced neurofeedback training to help patients recover more fully and more quickly from traumatic brain injury, anxiety, pain and trauma.
Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback that uses real-time displays of brain activity to teach self-regulation of brain function. Sensors are placed on the scalp to measure activity, with measurements displayed using visual displays or sound. Specially trained therapists at Totally Kids observe the brain in action from moment to moment and then show that information to the patient. The brain is rewarded for changing its own activity to more appropriate patterns. Because it is based on electrical brain activity, neurofeedback is also called EEG biofeedback.
“Neurofeedback is a valuable tool for many of the acute care patients we serve at Totally Kids as it allows the brain and the central nervous system to learn and to function more effectively,” said Mary Kay Chesher, biofeedback provider at Totally Kids. “We added it to our portfolio of services to give our patients every opportunity and advantage to recover as fully and quickly as possible as part of the healing process.”
Chesher explains that when a person has a traumatic brain injury, the brain becomes imbalanced. Neurofeedback training can help restore cognitive impairments and “rebalance” all regions of the brain so it is able to heal and function more effectively. Neurofeedback also addresses problems associated with brain dysregulation which, if unaddressed, can lead to learning and behavioral problems and can interfere with a child's social interactions and relationships at home and in school.
“Neurofeedback has been proven to be effective and is widely used as an intervention for not just traumatic brain injury but for a broad range of conditions including ADHD and ADD,” said Chesher. “At Totally Kids, neurofeedback becomes a natural complement to our other cutting-edge technologies—including the EKSO Bionic Exoskeleton, biofeedback and virtual-reality gaming—that are all designed to help children get back home, back to school and back to being kids as quickly and safely as possible.”
Serving children and their families for nearly 50 years, Totally Kids is regarded as a national leader in providing personalized rehabilitation and habilitation services for children with a family-centered emphasis. Totally Kids offers a full array of resources for children who are recovering from physical trauma or surgery, or have suffered catastrophic illness, and those dependent on technology through a portfolio of acclaimed programs and services that includes acute pediatric rehabilitation (both inpatient and outpatient), subacute, pediatric day health and residential intermediate care. Find out more about Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital at TotallyKids.com, or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/totallykidsrehab.