Heinz Rehab houses one of the nation’s leading rehabilitation programs for people suffering from brain injury due to trauma, insufficient oxygen, infection or certain progressive diseases. We are a credentialed ImPACT™ concussion management provider, an accreditation which includes adults and adolescents.

Compared regionally and nationally, patients in our Brain Injury Program frequently go home quicker and with more independent functioning as measured by scores from the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation. (The Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation is the most widely used system in the world for documenting the severity of patient disability and the outcomes of medical rehabilitation.)

Conditions Treated

• Behavioral and social judgment problems
• Memory loss
• Cognitive deficits
• Muscle weakness or paralysis
• Confusion

• Speech/language problems
• Difficulty swallowing
• Emotional issues
• Difficulty walking
• Visual perceptual problems

Programs Available

Minimally Conscious Program
For individuals who are emerging from coma and beginning to respond to their environment, and are not yet able to tolerate an aggressive therapy schedule.

Acute Brain Injury Program
For individuals who have sustained serious brain injuries and are experiencing multiple post-injury disabilities.

Mild Brain Injury Program
For individuals experiencing post concussive syndrome.

Technologies Involved

We believe that the best outcomes are produced by a team of skilled physicians armed with the most advanced rehabilitation technology. In the hands of our clinicians, this technology helps patients get back to the life they love.

The Balance Master A computerized evaluation and treatment tool used to treat balance dysfunction. It provides an objective assessment enabling the therapist to guide the patient in balance training, adaptation/habituation exercises to relieve dizziness, visual motor control exercises to stabilize one’s gaze, and or gait training. Click here for more information about our balance program.

The Hand Mentor The Hand Mentor is among the growing list of neurorehabilitation technologies available to assist individuals with neurological disorders reach their maximum functional recovery. The Hand Mentor provides robotic assisted therapy for patients with loss of function of the wrist and hand who are recovering from stroke or brain injury. The Hand Mentor helps restore range of motion and strengthen muscles, reduce muscle tightness and reduce muscle tone. The patient performs task-oriented activities through use of a computer program that provides visual biofeedback to the patient helping enhance performance.

LiteGait The LiteGait is a therapy device used to promote the generation of walking patterns by controlling weight bearing, balance, and posture during walking therapy. LiteGait is like a second set of hands, because it frees the therapist to observe gait patterns and make manual adjustments in limb placement, weight shift, walking symmetry, and gait training. Proper upright posture is maintained throughout the training session, which facilitates changes in posture, balance, specific muscle strength, and overall gait patterns. The LiteGait can be used over ground or with a treadmill.

The Ness H200 The H200 a Functional Electrical Stimulation technology that can dramatically assist patients with neurological disorders affecting the function of the arm and hand, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, C5-C6 spinal cord injury and cerebral palsy. The H200 is a custom fit non-invasive device, worn on the forearm and hand that enables patients to perform every day activities that were previously impossible. The NESS H200 can help the hand open and close, reduce stiffness, increase range of motion and strength, improve circulation and assist in regaining awareness of an impaired limb.

The Ness L300 The L300 is a Functional Electrical Stimulation system designed to improve lower leg and ankle/foot weakness due to the effects of stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis. In addition to facilitating a more fluid gait, the Ness L300 may also stimulate muscle re-education, prevent atrophy, maintain or increase joint range of motion and increase blood flow. The Ness L300 delivers stimulation to the nerves of the affected muscles. The device is worn on the lower leg to improve walking without the bulk of plastic braces and also strengthen muscles and reduce spasticity.

Reo Therapy Provides an entirely new approach to delivering therapy for neurorehabilitation of the upper extremities following stroke, head injury or other neurological diagnosis. The robot-assisted training program is customized for each patient’s current condition and upgraded based on functional improvements. The Reo provides an engaging, motivating program of functionally oriented repetitive exercises. The Reo can help reduce tone and pain and improve strength and coordination of the affected extremity.

Dynavision™ Originally designed as a device to improve the visuomotor skills of athletes, the Dynavision™ Light Training Board has been adapted to provide the same training benefits to persons whose visual and motor function has been compromised by injury or disease. For persons with visual and visuomotor impairment the apparatus is used to train compensatory search strategies, improve oculomotor skills such as localization, fixation, gaze shift, and tracking, increase peripheral visual awareness, visual attention and anticipation, and improve eye-hand coordination and visuomotor reaction time.

SaeboFlex The SaeboFlex is a custom orthosis that allows patients the ability to incorporate the involved hand in functional reaching exercises in therapy and at home by supporting the weakened wrist, hand, and fingers. The brace attaches to the forearm, hand and fingers and assists with release during grasp activities.

VitalStim An adjunctive modality that combines electrical stimulation with traditional swallowing exercises, allowing therapists to accelerate strengthening, restore function, and help the brain remap the swallow. Research has demonstrated that combining these therapies results in better outcomes than using either one alone.

VTree A virtual reality system that works with both the physically and developmentally challenged. Programming works to promote: education, range of motion, life skills, balance, eye-hand coordination, speech, visual tracking, social skills, and behavior. Virtual programs are designed for both pediatric and adult clients.

GameCycle Merges upper body exercise and rehabilitation with the excitement and enjoyment of video games. The system requires users to match upper extremity movement to visual feedback from the videogame allowing clinicians to addressing strength asymmetries, visual-motor integration, coordination and balance.

NeuroMove A biofeedback system that teaches patients to relearn muscle movements lost due to stroke, spinal cord injury, or other neurological injury by teaching healthy parts of the brain to compensate for injured areas. It helps to gain lost movements in fingers, hand wrists, elbows and shoulders. NeuroMove has achieved success in approximately 90% of cases with patients both achieving and maintaining significant functional improvement. NeuroMove is cleared by the FDA specifically for Stroke Rehab and has been proven effective in many clinical studies.

An Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Team

Brain injuries disrupt various function including sensation, movement, and intellectual process. The purpose of the Brain Injury Program is to provide comprehensive, compassionate, cost-effective, state-of-the-art rehabilitation and to provide care for individuals who have sustained brain injuries. To accomplish this goal, we have an experienced interdisciplinary team of Certified Brain Injury Specialists working together to meet all of the patient and family needs.

Our Brain Injury team incorporates numerous disciplines to provide evaluation and treatment under the direction of a board-certified physician and neuropsychologist, including:

• Physical Rehabilitation Medicine/Nursing
• Neuropsychology/cognitive services
• Social Services/case management
• Speech/language pathology
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Recreational therapy
• Dietary/nutritional services

Family Involvement

Literature supports that family education and support are important vehicles toward successful rehabilitation. A brain injury brings the patient’s family many new challenges and adjustments. The Brain Injury Program offers the family of brain injured persons numerous opportunities to receive hands on training and education throughout the rehabilitation process. The program offers Brain Injury education classes which are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They need to know that their family member will be given every opportunity to optimize their functions, and strive toward independence. We encourage families to become actively involved as members of the rehabilitation team to learn the best ways to promote independence and transition back to the community. Care management provides weekly updates to the family on the patient’s progress and goals.

The Transition Home

The ultimate goal of the brain injury program is to provide the patient with the ability to resume life roles and live independently in the community. Family conferences are held during the inpatient stay to provide opportunities for discussion provide written reports on the person’s progress in rehab and prepare for discharge planning. Education for the patient and family provided by the team of therapists ensures a smooth transition to home based on the principles of self-advocacy and self-direction. Community reintegration skills are practiced through the community reintegration program. Patients plan and participate in community life skills under the guidance of highly skilled therapists.

Therapeutic passes with the family are encouraged to allow the patient and family to practice skills and training learned in therapy to their own home and community settings. A fully functioning ADL apartment is also available to allow patients and families to practice these skills while under the close observation of the treatment team.

When appropriate, the brain injury team may perform evaluations of the home, school, and work site to identify barriers and make appropriate recommendations.

The Neuropsychologist informally evaluates all patients admitted to the inpatient brain injury program and provides weekly input to the team at staffing. As an outpatient, neuropsychological evaluations are conducted and recommendations are made as deemed appropriate by the Neuropsychologist.

The continuum of care is assured through the discharge planning process. Patients and families are provided instructions necessary to ensure appropriate follow-up care. All pertinent discharge information is provided to the patient’s primary care doctor and other patient care providers to facilitate a smooth and safe transition to the next service provider. After discharge, patients receive a follow-up phone call to assess the success of the transition and determine if there are any on-going needs. A one-month follow-up clinic appointment is scheduled with their physiatrist to assess their functional status and make additional recommendations for services. Patients received satisfaction surveys to assess their satisfaction with services provided and provide feedback to the program for on-going improvement planning.

Brain injury is a life-long process of recovery. The brain injury program is committed to provide life long services to meets the on going needs of the persons we serve through home health, in-home services, outpatient rehabilitation, long-term care and personal care services.

Admissions and Referrals

Patients are admitted to the brain injury program at Allied rehab when they are medically stable and determined appropriate for a rehabilitation program. Referrals may be made by a private physician, general hospital, family member, or those who have been injured themselves. To initiate a referral or for additional information, please call (570) 826-3885.