Gardening Helps Those With Brain Injury
There’s many rehabilitative practices aimed at helping those who have suffered traumatic brain injury. Some programs focus on speech, others on balance. Some programs offer Yoga or art therapy, while others utilize computer games.
One charity that focuses on rehabilitation for those with brain trauma has recently launched a gardening project to help TBI patients in their recovery.
Read More: Brain Injury Attorney in Wisconsin
According to an article by Cambridge News, Headway Cambridgeshire offers two therapy gardens, which began last Thursday and will continue until March next year.
“The six-month courses are running thanks to Government cash from the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund (HSCVF), which has been secured for the next three years,” the article reads. “It is an unusual gardening project as it will have a co-learning approach – the course is designed to get experienced and not so experienced gardeners together with people who have suffered brain injuries so that all the participants can share their knowledge and learn both about gardening and about brain injury. It will also enable people who are thinking of working with brain injured people as a career to get some first-hand experience.”
Brain injury can affect anyone, at any time and can leave people with physical, cognitive or emotional and behavioral problems.
Traumatic brain injury(TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, contributing to about 30 percent of all injury deaths. Every day, 138 people in the United States die from injuries that include TBI, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Those who survive a TBI can face effects lasting a few days to disabilities which may last the rest of their lives. Effects of TBI can include impaired thinking or memory, movement, sensations such as vision or hearing, or emotional functioning like personality changes and depression. These issues not only affect individuals but can have lasting effects on families and communities.
A TBI is caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of a TBI may range from “mild” (a brief change in mental status or consciousness) to “severe” (an extended period of unconsciousness or memory loss after the injury). Most TBIs that occur each year are mild, commonly called concussions.
“The charity has been providing specialist services and support to people with an acquired brain injury and other neurological conditions and their families across the county since 1989,” the article reads. “A vital part of the treatment is horticultural therapy which provides new skills, a feeling of continuity and perhaps most importantly, a sense of achievement.”
The gardening is used as a therapy tool. TBI patients are able to get out into the fresh air and are using lots of practical skills from growing their food to making structures for plants in the garden.
