Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

The purpose of this study is to explore the functional and physiological effects associated with the use of High-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring (HIRREM), as supplemental care, for symptoms of neurological, cardiovascular, and neuropsychological disorders. This is a non-randomized, open label, and unblinded before-and-after trial, evaluating the effect of HIRREM on an objective, physiological common denominator (heart rate variability, HRV), across a variety of relevant conditions, as well as changes in clinical symptoms inventories, to generate hypotheses and pilot data for investigation in future proposals.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of two different walking training interventions on the recovery of strength, mobility, walking and other measures of health in individuals following traumatic brain injury. During this study, participants will aim to complete up to 15 training sessions over 4-5 weeks of each intervention with at least a 4 week break between interventions. Each training session will last approximately 1 hour, while testing sessions performed at the beginning and end of each intervention will last approximately 3-4 hours. Participation in this research study may last up to 6 months including screening and baseline testing. The possible benefits to participant from participation in this study include increased strength of the participants leg muscles and improved walking ability

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Up to 73% of TBI patients endorse fatigue as their most challenging symptom. Fatigue leads to decreased participation in everyday life and return to work. The Maximizing Energy (MAX) intervention trains individuals with TBI to manage their fatigue. The intervention individualizes the Occupational Therapist delivered Energy Conservation Strategies education by using the framework of Problem Solving Therapy. The purpose of this single-blind randomized clinical trial was to test the effect of the Maximizing Energy (MAX) intervention for decreasing the impact and severity of post-TBI fatigue, increasing participation in everyday life and physical activity, and decreasing work disability.

This study will evaluate the administration of N-Acetyl-cysteine in combination with multi-vitamins/minerals in geriatric population (>60 years of age) who have experienced a traumatic brain injury.

Each year, approx. 100 patients with severe brain injury is admitted to the Clinic for Neurorehabilitation/TBI Unit, Rigshospitalet. Severe brain injury results in local oxygen deficiency and acid formation in the brain, which together destroys brain cells. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to carry out a ketogenic diet therapy for patients with severe brain injury for six weeks. Ketosis has been shown to be neuroprotective during and after severe brain injury.

The aim of this study is to assess the potential role of magnesium sulphate (MgSo4) as a neuroprotective agent using the Glasgow outcome scale following moderate and severe traumatic brain injury.

The reported social benefits of knitting combined with the urgent need for social and activity-based programs in the disability community suggest that a knitting intervention may fill a substantial gap in available programs. Knitting may also be well suited to autistic strengths, combining sensory aspects (colourful sights, soft touch, rhythmic sounds), visual patterning, and repetitive actions. Surprisingly, no knitting programs for ASD or other conditions are reported in the literature. It is proposed that a knitting group can provide social and skill-building opportunities, improving real-world social outcomes for youth with ASD, and resulting in KneuroKnits, a program designed specifically to serve this need. The program will be designed and run by a collaborative team of clinicians, researchers, knitting experts, and a self-advocate with ASD. This program will enhance evidence supporting programs providing contexts for the dual goals of meaningful social interaction for young people with neurodevelopmental disorders, physical disabilities, and acquired brain injuries and building a real world creative skill that can facilitate social interaction within and beyond the program. This study will evaluate participants' experiences of the program as well as their levels of anxiety at various points during the program.

For phase II, the objective is to compare the effectiveness of BICS-T with the well-established BICS in-person group. Information gained from phase I (the feasibility study) was used to make necessary changes to the BICS-T protocol. The purpose of this study is to provide survivors of brain injury and caregivers greater support and teach adaptive coping strategies, through a designed and studied a coping skills group specifically for brain injury survivors and their caregivers at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI) called the Brain Injury Coping Skills group (BICS).

The focus of this study is to test a treatment program (Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training; SMART) that was developed to address specific brain functions found to be crucial for the recovery following traumatic brain injury (TBI). New research has shown that when these very specific brain functions are targeted, such as ability to focus on a task while ignoring irrelevant information, brain changes are more significant. SMART emphasizes top-down processing by targeting focused attention, assimilation of information, and mental flexibility and innovation, all higher-order cognitive functions driven by the frontal lobes. Evidence from other top-down cognitive training programs demonstrates their effectiveness in improving cognitive and daily functioning in individuals reporting a TBI. In addition to improving frontal lobe capacity, SMART has also been shown to increase brain blood flow critical for complex thinking and strengthen white matter integrity. The effectiveness of SMART has been extensively tested with a variety of populations, including healthy adults and adolescents, adolescents with brain injuries, healthy seniors and those at risk for Alzheimers, and veterans and civilians with lingering impairment following TBIs. This will be the first study to test its effectiveness with individuals with mild TBI (MTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The SMART program has previously been tested with patients with TBI using an 18-hour training format. When compared to the Brain Health Workshop (BHW), an education-based active learning module, participants in the SMART group (n = 31) demonstrated improvements in gist reasoning, executive function, and memory, generalization of improvement to daily functioning activities and continuation of these gains 6 months posttraining. The training consisted of 15 hours of training conducted over 10 group sessions in the first 5 weeks and a final 3 hours of training at spaced intervals over the next 3 weeks. SMART training has not been tested with patients with PTSD-related neuropsychological impairments. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the efficacy of a shortened training program (9 hours) in improving neurocognitive function in patients with mTBI and/or PTSD.

Severe brain injury (sTBI) is one of the most common causes of long-term disability and is considered the most frequent cause of mortality and serious disability in young adults in industrialized countries. It is defined as an alteration of brain function with loss of consciousness in the acute phase for at least 24 hours (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) <8) and it can induce a wide range of deficit, including cognitive-behavioural, motors, psychics, language, vision, coordination and balance impairments. Chronic vestibular symptoms such as dizziness and balance deficits (both static and dynamic postural instability) are present in patients with brain injury. These aspects can cause functions limitation and psychological distress, negatively impacting negatively on subjects' quality of life and social reintegration and are considered unfavourable prognostic factors of the recovery process. The literature supports the use of vestibular rehabilitation techniques in patients with mild and moderate brain injury, however, to date, no studies investigated the effect of vestibular rehabilitation in sTBI patients. The main aim of this randomized controlled trail is to verify the effect of a personalized vestibular training on balance and gait disorders in sTBI patients.