INTENSIVE BRAIN REHABILITATION: THE NEURO RESCUE PROGRAM
NeuroRescue is based on neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change and adapt in both structure and function in response to the right kind of stimulation.
A traditional neurological exam is designed to find areas of the nervous system that have been damaged by strokes, tumors, injuries and other conditions. This is an essential part of medical care. NeuroRescue also recognizes damaged areas, but it adds a closer look at how well the remaining nerve cells and pathways are working.
NeuroRescue focuses on the nerve cells that are still working, carefully stimulating and exercising them with targeted therapies, with the goal of helping them work better. Our aim is to improve your ability to function in daily life and to help you take back more of your health and your life.
How NeuroRescue Works:
-
Our care is non-invasive and doesn’t involve medication or surgery. It is designed to be comfortable, and most people find it painless, though some exercises may briefly bring on mild dizziness or fatigue as they challenge your nervous system. Our care is precise and specific, and your therapies are chosen for your own nervous system and condition.
Our programs are intensive and immersive, which lets us work with your nervous system frequently and consistently. We use objective testing to measure your progress over time, so you and your care team can see how your nervous system is responding. By the end of your program, we aim to give you the knowledge, skills and tools to keep up your progress and keep building on it.
NeuroRescue starts with a thorough clinical exam and computerized testing, along with a review of any relevant lab work, imaging and prior testing. Together, these help us identify brain pathways and networks that aren’t working well on their own or aren’t working well together. We also look at other parts of your health, such as sleep, blood sugar and stress, that may affect how your brain is working, and we coordinate with your other providers when those need attention.
We then design a rehabilitation program for your specific brain and condition. We use a multisensory approach that combines visual, vestibular and movement exercises with specific cognitive exercises. Our goal is to help improve neurological function and endurance, and your ability to function in daily life. What makes our approach different is how closely we look at the way your systems work together, and how specifically we design your care around what we find.
Our care works alongside your physicians and other providers, never in place of them.
What are the treatment options?
-
Standard Outpatient Program
Our standard outpatient program starts with one month of care, with visits in the clinic three times a week. At the end of the month, we repeat your testing to see what has changed, what is improving and what we still need to work on. We use that reassessment to adjust your program for the next phase of your care. We continue to check your progress with testing and with how you are feeling, and we talk with you about your progress at each reassessment.
Intensive NeuroRescue Week
Our intensive option provides about the same number of therapy sessions as two months of outpatient care, completed in one week. That may sound like a lot, but the week is carefully structured, with plenty of rest built in.
The intensive week usually includes five treatment sessions a day for five days in a row. You arrive at 9 a.m. and leave by 5 p.m. Each session includes about an hour of rehabilitation, followed by a rest break before the next session. At the end of each day, you go home to rest for the night.
We repeat your testing on day 3 to see how your nervous system is responding and adjust your program as needed for the last two days. On the final day, we test you again to compare your results from the start and end of the week. This also helps us plan any follow-up care and the home exercises you will continue with.
Every person responds differently, and results vary. We pace both programs carefully based on your testing and how you are feeling, and our care works alongside your physicians and other providers.
Why Is the NeuroRescue Week Structured This Way?
-
NeuroRescue therapy works a lot like endurance training. You don’t build endurance with heavy weights and only a few reps. You build it with lighter weights and many reps over time. In NeuroRescue, the focus is on encouraging neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to build endurance, efficiency and stronger connections in its pathways.
For example, say a pathway in your brain isn’t firing as strongly as it should. To help you feel better, we want that pathway working at a healthier level. Our approach is to give you the right exercise, at the right frequency and intensity, for the right amount of time, with the goal of helping that pathway become more active.
After a single session, a pathway may work better for a short time, sometimes only an hour or two. That’s because one session mainly makes the nerve cells more responsive for a little while. It doesn’t yet create lasting change. Research on neuroplasticity suggests that lasting change depends on stimulating a pathway again before that effect fades, and then again and again. Much like strength training, repeated, lower-intensity practice signals nerve cells to build what they need to become stronger and more efficient over time.
That’s the reason for the intensive NeuroRescue week. Spacing many sessions throughout each day, with rest in between, lets us stimulate your pathways frequently and consistently, which is the kind of repetition neuroplasticity depends on. Every person responds differently, and we use testing during the week to check how your nervous system is responding and adjust your program.
What Else Makes the Intensive NeuroRescue Week Different?
-
Along with the frequency of therapy, several other parts of the intensive week are designed to support your progress.
One is working with the same rehabilitation technician for your entire week. When you work with one person several times a day, they get to know how your nervous system responds, including how far to challenge you and when to stop. Our rehabilitation technicians are trained in all of our neurorehabilitation protocols and work under the supervision of our doctors. They are chosen for their close attention to detail and their ability to notice early signs of fatigue that can be easy to miss.
How Outpatient Care Compares
Outpatient care relies on the same principle of frequent, repeated stimulation. Because you aren’t in the clinic every day, we give you home exercises to do, usually at least three times a day, without a technician there to watch and guide you.
It’s hard to see your own fatigue point, so we keep home exercises more conservative than what we do in the clinic. That helps you avoid pushing past the point where symptoms start to build. Because home exercises are gentler, progress with outpatient care may take longer, but it is still a good option for many people. We’ll help you decide which format fits your needs, schedule and condition.
Which Option Should I Choose?
-
Many patients choose outpatient care because they can’t take five days in a row off from work. That’s completely understandable, and our team is happy to work around your schedule.
For people who can set aside a week, we often recommend the intensive NeuroRescue week, because it lets us provide frequent, closely guided therapy in a short period of time. For many people, that means less time spent waiting to see whether their care is helping. We’ll talk through both options with you and help you decide which one fits you best.
We want every patient to leave our clinic feeling supported and understood. We look forward to designing your personal program and helping you take the first step on your road to recovery.
It’s never too late to take the next step.