Setting new definitions to Neurological Rehabilitation

How are we different?

What is neuro rehabilitation?

Neuro-Rehabilitation is a complex process which aims to aid recovery from a nervous system injury such as stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, Parkinsonism, Gullien Barrie Syndrome (GBS), Myopathies, peripheral nerve injuries (PNI) etc

The burning need for neuro rehabilitation

Organized & structured rehabilitation is still not the norm in India & an ideal, inter-disciplinary, institutionalized neuro rehabilitation is still very nascent. A majority of the doctors & other healthcare professionals are not even aware of the multiple aspects of neurological/ brain disability, let alone how to rehabilitate such individuals! The myriad & complex disabilities produced by nervous system injuries, (right from coma to reintegrating them back into the community)– awakening from coma, mobility, activities of daily living (ADL), bimanual tasks, fine motor skills in both hands, speech, language, swallowing, behaviour, memory & cognition being some of the major ones.

 

With a constantly increasing burden of neurological disability occurring in younger, productive & high-performance individuals, the need for providing long-term & affordable institutional rehabilitation has become critical. The costs for such long-term institutional rehabilitation in ‘acute care hospitals’ is enormous, further burdening the already overstretched patients and their families, thus making ideal neuro rehab ‘unaffordable’. Transporting such disabled patients daily for rehab is impossible & a logistic nightmare in India. This results in a compromised, disorganized, unstructured neuro rehabilitation happening in their homes producing grossly sub-optimal results as well as many avoidable complications. Thus, we are burdening the family, society, community & the country with a large population of ‘unproductive’, dependent and disabled population.

 

A NEW EPIDEMIC IS EMERGING IN INDIA…. NEUROLOGIC DISABILITY!!!

The current EPIDEMICS in India are:

  1. unresolved epidemics of infectious diseases
  2. rising rates of chronic diseases like HT, DM, CAD etc

 

Neurologic disability is likely to join these public health concerns as a third epidemic, largely due to 3 emerging health trends:

  • An increase in traumatic brain injuries (TBI) from road traffic accidents (RTA)
  • An increase in the incidence of age-related dementia; and
  • An increase in the stroke
  • Other neurological diseases like brain fever (neuro infections like meningitis, encephalitis, TB meningitis, etc), multiple sclerosis, Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), Parkinson’s Disease, etc.

How are we different from the neighborhood ‘physiotherapist’?

In India, even today, for a majority of people (patients, caregivers & even doctors and other healthcare professionals), neuro rehab means physiotherapy! This roughly translates to a ‘shanking a hand, moving a leg & modalities business’. Very little attention is paid towards ADL (Activities of Daily Living) and occupational rehab, speech, language and swallowing problems and last but THE MOST IMPORTANT – COGNITION, MEMORY, BEHAVIOR! *

At NewRo, both the science and art of ‘cognition based’, technology-assisted, Neuro-Rehabilitation beautifully collaborate into an empathy-driven business model to create ‘magical’ results for patients.

Our vision is to enable patients in need of neurorehabilitation get appropriate, cost effective and result oriented services. We create a holistic treatment plan, tailor made to individual patient needs with appropriate goals and therapy techniques and diligently work towards the goal.

We pride in a highly trained and motivated team which provides one-on-one therapy for 3-5 hours, in an environment that promotes effective healing for the patients and their families while keeping their focus on innovations and Technology. Yoga is an integral part of our strategy.

With over 35 years of combined experience in the field of Neurosciences and Neuro rehabilitation, our mission is to craft rehabilitation programs that enable independence with daily living activities, hence restoring patients to their maximum possible functional potential and dignity.  This we consistently achieve through our goal oriented, evidence-based, hands-on approach focusing not just on physical function, mobility, strength and endurance but full occupational, speech, behaviour and cognitive rehabilitation. Our strengths are in our assessments and meticulous documentation including initial & weekly assessments, goal modifications, home assessments and recommending an appropriate combination of therapies including adaptive equipment’s, enabling devices and safety measures. This and more is done using our patented software – NewRo Logix™

We at NewRo Rehab proudly declare that we are the only rehab center that can claim a multidisciplinary team approach to address the ‘end to end needs’ of neurologically disabled patients at this time.

What do we mean by ‘end to end needs’ ?

We believe that neuro rehab starts within the first 2-5 days of admission in the ICU (on ventilator), the moment the patient is medically stable! And this rehab support continues until the patient is back into the community he/she belonged to. The average time taken for such a recovery is anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months or longer.

Our proprietary/ patented product is called “C2C”.

C2C for Brain Injury rehabilitation is – Coma to Community

C2C for Spinal Cord Injury rehabilitation is – Cot to Community

In other words, complex therapies such as Coma Stimulation (to wake up the unconscious brain), Cognitive retraining & rehabilitation (by a neuropsychologist), evidence based, technology supported (Virtual Reality or VR, Augmented reality or AR, Mixed Reality or MR) functional, goal oriented rehab & tele rehab. These technologies help in re-establishing the damaged ‘brain circuits’ – for ex: “brain-eye-hand” co-ordination.

This, along with the standard but “NewRo customized” services of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech & language therapy, swallow therapy, are captured and analyzed by our patented software – NewRo Logix™

What is NewRo Logix™? Who else in India uses it?

NewRo Logix™ is a patented software that has been designed by Team NewRo and hence no one else in India has it or can get it.

NewRo Logix™– helps us to document each and every observation of the patient, document serial progress, analyze the inputs of our customized gadgets, but also uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) ML (Machine Learning) to further enhance our capabilities to ‘fine tune’ therapies to individual patients’ needs. Hence, it helps us to achieve the 3Ps – Progression, Prognostication & Prediction.

We are committed to helping the patients and their family return to their maximum possible functional level/potential within their social and business communities. We take pride in providing the highest quality of care and effective therapy approaches.

What is a neuro rehab cluster?

Our ‘end to end’ neuro rehab services are delivered from 3 different facilities, which collectively form the Neuro rehab Cluster- what we call as the ‘functioning unit of NewRo’!

A single neuro rehab cluster consists of:

  1. Acute & subacute care facility
  2. Out Patient facility
  3. Residential facility

The current neuro rehab cluster in Bengaluru is at the following locations:

  1. Acute & sub-acute care IP (In Patient) services – in ICU, on ventilator (& tracheostomy) patients. Such patients will still require the active management of the neurologist, neurosurgeon or neuro intensivist. Such patients are cared for at Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital (BMJH), vasanthnagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. BMJH is a 500 bed quaternary care charitable hospital (bmjh.org). We have very affordable rehab packages. (let a small window open when the cursor lands on it which says – for more info call……)  
  2. OP (Out Patient) services: this is provided at 2 locations currently.
  1. @BMJH hospital

@NewRo HQ in Okalipuram – With 6000 square feet of rehabilitation area we provide an excellent ambiance and environment for patient to experience rehabilitation. This includes two disabled friendly bathrooms equipped with assistive devices, handlebars, etc. necessary for a comprehensive OT, ADL evaluation and rehabilitation and an Ambulation area with different

The current ‘demographic dividend’ India has – 65% of its population is under the age of 35 years – is also going to be the cause of its biggest liability – NEUROLOGIC DISABILITY! Why?
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TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

In 2010, 22 lakh people had TBI due to RTA alone. As RTAs contribute to 60%–70% of all TBIs, this would lead to 30–35 lakh TBI just in 2010 in India! Approximately 50% have a long-term disability after brain injury. India is generating approximately 15–17 lakh neurologically disabled people every year due to TBI alone

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DEMENTIA

The Indian population is aging rapidly. The proportion of older adults in India is predicted to increase dramatically from 76 million in 2001 to 301 million by 2051 (from 7.1% to 17% of the population). Adding at least 16 lakh neurologically disabled persons due to dementia annually by 2051

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STROKE

The incidence rate of stroke in India is currently estimated to be 145 per 100,000 people with approximately 15 lakh new cases reported in 2010. Stroke results in long-term disability in 30%–40% of cases, and therefore 4.5–6 lakh people with disability will be added to the population annually.

Introduction & Tour of Newro Rehabilitation Centre Bangalore

Dr. Sharan Srinivasan, Senior Neurosurgeon & Chairman at NewRo Rehab