Birkdale Blog Archives

The Story of a Young Person With Stroke

This is a story about a young person who has had a stroke. Susan came to us six months after her stroke. She was very nervous and new to the world of rehab. With no point of reference she did not know what to expect, could not imagine how she might change and recover some of her abilities. Quite naturally she wanted her old life back and did not like what had happened to her body and mind. Emotionally she was very fragile. She could not find the words to describe how she felt. She had lost her ability with...

Developing my practice as a neuro physiotherapist (part 1)

It’s been just nearly two months since I started work at the Birkdale Neuro Rehabilitation Centre and the time has just flown by. I would like to thank the team, management and clients for providing me with such a warm welcome. When I was asked to contribute to the website blog a couple of weeks ago I knew exactly what I wanted to write about in my first blog entry- the continued development of my knowledge and skills as a neuro physiotherapist. As a profession, we are nurtured to be reflective about our practice in order develop and hone our...

“New Approaches to Visual Rehabilitation for Cortical Blindness: Outcomes and Putative Mechanisms”

“Cortical blindness is a chronic loss of vision following damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) or its postchiasmal afferents. Cortically blind subjects demonstrate spontaneous oculomotor adaptations to their deficits that can be further improved by saccadic localization training. However, saccadic training does not improve visual sensitivity in the blind field. In contrast, recent studies by a number of independent groups suggest that localized, repetitive perceptual training can improve visual sensitivity in the blind field.” This is an exciting paper for me as a neuro physiotherapist. I have been working with a child who developed cortical blindness due to epilepsy....

Innovative Approach To Cerebral Palsy

Since qualification, in 1977 I have only been interested in neurology. Treating Cerebral Palsy has taken a great deal of my focus for many years. I am very interested in this condition and the history of treating it especially in children. The following is a useful definition of Cerebral Palsy. The definition is written by Kate Hoy research fellow /clinical neuropsychologist at Monash University gave the best definition for cerebral palsy in her article in the conversation.com “Cerebral palsy describes a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitations that are attributed to non-progressive...