Citation

Kullberg-Turtiainen M, Vuorela K, Huttula L, Turtiainen P, Koskinen S. Heliyon 2019; 5(2): e01184.

Affiliation

University of Helsinki, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01184

PMID

30805564

PMCID

PMC6374582

Abstract

Few long-term studies report late outcomes after severe traumatic brain injury. New rehabilitation techniques are needed for this heterogenous patient group. We present a dance intervention six and half years after an extreme severe TBI including excessive diffuse axonal injury, which disconnects the brain networks. Given the fact, that efficient brain function depends on the integrated operation of large-scale brain networks like default mode network (DMN), we created an intervention with multisensory and multimodal approach and goal-directed behavior. The intervention lasted four months including weekly one-hour dance lessons with the help of a physiotherapist and dance teacher. The measures included functional independence measure (FIM), repeated electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis of three subnets of DMN and clinical evaluations and observations. The results showed clear improvement after the intervention, and FIM stayed in elevated level during several years after the intervention. We present suggestion for further studies using larger patient groups.

Language: en

Keywords

Neurology; Rehabilitation