Rabeya Ferdous :
Road traffic accident is a common accident in Bangladesh. Every day it is very common to see in our TV channel. Some people are died and some are severely injured who are becoming disable people. According to a study conducted by the Accident Research Centre (ARC) of BUET, road accidents claim on average 12,000 lives annually and lead to about 35,000 injuries. Among of injures include head injury, spinal cord injury, fracture etc. Head injury is the most common injury and Occupational Therapy is the best treatment for head injured patient.
Definition
Head injury may be defined as damage to living brain tissue caused by an external mechanical force. It is usually characterized by a period of altered consciousness, amnesia or coma that can be very brief or exceedingly long.
Causes of head injury
Traffic accidents
Falls
Physical assault
Accident at home
Traumatic birth
Hypoxia
Surgery
Symptoms of head injury
There are some sign symptoms of head injury, which shows immediately or develop slowly over several hours. These are:
Loss of consciousness, confusion, or drowsiness
Low breathing rate or drop in blood pressure
Fracture in the skull or face
Severe Headache
Fluid drainage from nose, mouth or ears
Dizziness
Nausea and vomiting
Blurry vision
Problems associated with head injury
Physical problem includes paralysis in both upper limb and lower limb; ataxia, extra pyramidal tremor and person may have difficulty in gross motor skills and coordination (Example rolling, sitting, standing without support etc).
Sensorimotor disturbance is the problem that associated with head injury. A person with brain injury may lose sensation in parts of the body or may be more sensitive in parts of the body or may be more sensitive to certain sensation. Person may also suffer from visual problem and impaired in hand function
Some person with head injury face disturbance in speech and communication with others. A cognitive deficit is very common problem. It affects in everyday life. Some problems include:
Difficulty remembering tings
Remembering what you see, but not what you hear
Difficulty to remembering important task
Forgetting where you put tings
Difficulty recalling other people’s names or recognizing familiar faces
Another problem include psychosocial problem, personality change and behaviour disorder.
Treatment:
Treatment will depend on the type of head injury. It also depends on your overall health. Some treatments for head injury might include:
Medications to prevent blood clotting or seizures
Surgery to stop bleeding in the brain
Therapy is also necessary for rehabilitation.
Among of these therapies occupational therapy is one of best therapy for improving the condition of head injury patient.
Occupational therapy helps to solve the problems that interfere with your ability to do the things that are important to you. It can also prevent a problem or minimize its effects.
When an injury, illness, disability or other problem limits your ability to:
o Take care of yourself
o Participate in paid or unpaid work, or
o Enjoy your leisure time, e.g. hobbies, sports, spending time with family, then you may want to learn some new skills for the job of living from an occupational therapist.
Occupational therapists believe that occupations (activities) describe who you are and how you feel about yourself. If you are unable to do the things you want, or need to do, to live and enjoy your life, your general well-being may be affected.
Occupational Therapy (OT) Management
Occupational Therapist work in following areas
Physical: OT work for improving functional fine and gross motor skills, normalise muscle tone, improving balance and coordination during doing daily activities.
Sensory: Occupational Therapist work for normalises the sensation of person with head injury.
Cognition and perception: Occupational therapist use different activities that increase the person’s cognitive and perceptual skills.
Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s): Occupational Therapist work for making independent the person with head injury in all daily activities as much as possible. They do thing because most of the head injured person can’t perform his ADL’s. It’s including dressing, eating, grooming, bathing, shopping etc.
Occupational Therapist also works for improving social interaction, coping skill, leisure skills, money management and time management skills.
Prognosis
Physicians look at several indicators to predict the level of a patient’s recovery during the first few weeks and months after injury:
Duration of coma
Severity of coma in the first few hours after the injury (as measured by the Glasgow Coma Score)
Duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA)
Location and size of contusions and haemorrhages in the brain
Severity of injuries to other body systems
If you have any relatives with head injury then please contact with qualified occupational therapist who can rehabilitate the patients in their daily life. Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) is the only Centre where this type of patient gets this facility. Please contact following address: Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Savar. n
(Rabeya Ferdous is an occupational therapist at Proyash in Savar Cantonment, Dhaka)
