At Integrated Brain Center, we focus on 3 important ingredients for brain rehabilitation. These must haves can help with improving plasticity, decreasing inflammation, and providing proper fuel. Ask your doctor or provider if they are taking the steps to make sure that you have all the ingredients for a successful treatment plan!

#1 Fuel

When undergoing brain rehab and building neuroplasticity, you need to make certain that you have proper fuel. Without proper fuel, it would be similar to running a race without eating. Fuel can be in the form or glucose or even ketones. Ketones are a fuel source, and the reason why ketogenic diets have become so popular. A ketogenic diet should be discussed with your doctor and monitored, but if done correctly, it can be very effective. 

Glucose is the primary fuel source that our cells need for function. Low blood sugar can cause a decrease in energy while too much causes inflammation. One struggle that we find with brain injuries is the instability of blood sugar. Brain injuries themselves can lead to the instability of glucose but many people will eat poorly or skip meals which can further perpetuate the imbalance. 

Evaluating glucose can be done by looking at the following markers:

• Glucose
• A1c
• Insulin
• Lactate acid dehydrogenase or LDH

#2 Oxygen

Every cell in the body needs oxygen. It is important to be aerobic when you have a brain injury or going through rehab. Oxygen helps with inflammation, reducing flight / flight and aides in the healing process. At Integrated Brain Center, we use oxygen in the form of deep breathing exercises and hyperbaric oxygen chamber (HBOT). Using a pulse oximeter is a great way to evaluate oxygen and levels should be 98% and higher. 

Make sure that your doctor evaluates you for anemia by looking at Ferritin on blood work. You want to make sure that your Ferritin is 50 to 150 when trying to rehab brain function. If you don’t have sufficient iron, it will be nearly impossible to provide oxygen to all cells. Symptoms of anemia are brain fog, fatigue, and lack of endurance.

#3 Stimulation 

Stimulation is needed for neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the goal for the rehabilitation process. Stimulation is seen in therapies such as proprioception, vision, feedback, light, sound, movement, vestibular, coordination, sensory processing and much more. When improving neuroplasticity, the practitioner should identify area of dysfunction and stimulate the pathway associated with injuries or areas of the brain compensating to make change. Stimulation is ingredient for a neuron to product proper mitochondria, cell structure and proper signaling. 

Conclusion

These 3 ingredients of oxygen, fuel and stimulation are necessary for proper brain rehabilitation. Many providers are not evaluating this when developing a treatment plan. They are simple steps in the evaluation process. If you are undergoing neuro therapies whether it is neurofeedback, vision therapy, light therapy or the many others, at the very least eat well, maintain proper blood sugar and work on your breathing. 

At Integrated Brain Centers, we do a thorough work-up with evaluating all aspect of brain function, running blood work and developing a treatment plan that is individual to the person. Some needs vestibular therapy while others need vision therapy. ‘

Services provided

• Vestibular rehab
• Sensory processing
• Vision
• Prisms
• Full neurological rehabilitative services (light, sound, proprioception, etc.)
• Nutritional counseling 
• Lab testing 
• HBOT
• Manual therapy
• Chiropractic

We offer free consultations to see learn more about the practice and how we can serve you. We our intensive neuro therapies for quicker results and can work with acute or chronic brain injuries, stroke and autoimmune diseases. Ask your provider about taking steps to make sure the 3 MUST HAVES to brain rehab are offered. 

Copyright © 2020 Integrated Health Systems. All Rights Reserved. Shane Steadman, D.C., D.A.C.N.B. is a Doctor at Integrated Health Systems. To learn more about how we can help you with your brain health goals visit our website at www.integratedbraincenters.com or email us at info@integratedhealthdenver.com. To schedule a free consultation call 303-781-5617.