Intensive Treatment Therapy and Post Treatment Rehabilitation
About Intensive Treatment Therapy
CMT-Simkovich Approach is highly successful due to the development of the “Intensive Treatment Protocol,” which shortens the concussed patient’s recovery time, allowing maximum improvement in the shortest time possible. The Intensive Concussion Program is an intensive treatment which provides results much more rapidly than a protracted treatment plan. Derived from medical texts such as Gray’s Anatomy and Guyton’s Physiology, the post-concussion treatment encompasses known science of cranial bone articulations and movement, cerebrospinal fluid dynamics, structural integrity/attachments of eye muscles, structural components of the sphenoid (articulations, and involvement of the pituitary and pineal glands), dural involvement, and all related structures of the brain.
The Intensive Concussion Treatment flattens the healing curve and enables patients with more severe injuries to benefit quickly compared to a longer remediation period with protracted interventions (i.e., physical therapy, vision therapy, vestibular therapy, etc.) and/or the administration of medicines (i.e., antianxiety or anti-depression pharmaceuticals).
The Concussion Treatment Protocol begins with an intensive treatment therapy week which is approximately 2-5 days, and is then followed by Post Treatment Rehabilitation over the course of 6-8 weeks with cognitive and physical rehabilitation.
Intensive Treatment Week
The patient is in the office for 2 to 5 consecutive days for approximately 2 hours each day, depending on the doctor’s prescribed course of care. Between each treatment, the patient will wait/rest in our waiting room or other available quiet room for a minimum of 20 minutes. During each session, symmetry, mobility, and tonicity of both the soft tissue and osseous structures of the head are assessed, followed by treatment to the deficit areas.
Following this intensive portion of treatment, patients schedule to return for follow-up visits, depending on the doctor’s recommendation. Follow-up appointments are determined by the doctor’s exam findings and a patient’s response to care.
Post Treatment Rehabilitation
Following the patient’s treatment week, there are various cognitive and physical rehabilitation exercises over the course of 6-8 weeks to be performed at home, which aids in the healing process.
Cognitive retraining may include reading one paragraph from a book each day out loud to a partner. The partner checks for fluidity, or lack of “choppiness” in reading, then asks the patient questions about the content read to check for comprehension. As the patient improves, a paragraph is added to test the eye muscles for fatigue and help improve cognition.
Physical rehabilitation begins with small exertion exercises for a short period, with assessment for both immediate and delayed symptoms. If symptoms appear, the patient remains at that level of exertion until there are no symptoms. Dr. Simkovich will provide comprehensive instructions for each patient, as they can vary case to case based on need and individual issues.
The rehabilitation therapies are conducted in a very measured, incremental fashion to be able to accurately assess progress and ensure purposeful, steady rehabilitation/improvement.
To learn more about shortening recovery time and rediscovering “pre-concussion life”, please contact us today.
