Treating Vets with Mirrors

Jamie Davis of MedicCast sent me a link to an interesting article from the CNN website.  It describes how mirror box therapy is being used to help veterans who have suffered amputations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Those of you who heard Sandra Blakeslee's interview about body maps back in Episode 23 will remember that she described how her son built the first mirror box for VS Ramachandran several years ago, while working as a graduate student.

It is good to see that military physicians are beginning to apply some of the recent findings of neuroscience to helping injured vets, but you may also recall that when we talked with Dr. Edward Taub about stroke rehab, he reported the difficulty of getting new methods of head injury treatment into the VA clinics.

link to article about mirrors: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/19/mirror.therapy/index.html

Edward Taub's Revolutionary Approach to Stroke Rehabilitation (BSP 28)

Edward Taub, PhD, pioneer of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy

Episode 28 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. Edward Taub, who for the last 20+ years has been pioneering the use of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy in the rehabilitation of stroke and other neurological disabilities.  I have talked about his work in previous episodes (including Episode 10 and Episode 26) as an important example of the practical implications of brain plasticity. 

In this interview,  Dr. Taub shares his personal experiences in the front lines of clinical research, including both its rewards and frustrations.  He also explains the basics of how constraint-induced therapy (CI Therapy) works and how his work is being expanded to help patients with a wide variety of problems including cerebral palsy, head trauma, multiple sclerosis, and focal hand dystonia.

How to get this episode:

• Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.

• Buy mp3 for $1.

• Buy Transcript for $1.

• New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.

Listen in your Favorite Audio app: Audible, Amazon music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube and many more.

Links and References:

Dr. Taub recommends that interested listeners do their own Google search under "constraint-induced movement therapy" or CI Therapy, but I have included a few links below:

About Dr. Taub:

• Announcement of his recent article in JAMA

• William James Fellow Award 1997

• Dr. Taub's faculty page at UAB (includes contact information)

References:

• Effect of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy on Upper Extremity Function 3 to 9 Months After Stroke: The EXCITE Randomized Clinical Trial: Steven L. Wolf; Carolee J. Winstein; J. Philip Miller; EdwardTaub; Gitendra Uswatte; David Morris; Carol Giuliani; Kathye E. Light; Deborah Nichols-Larsen; JAMA, November 1, 2006;   296:   2095 - 2104.  (Free download)

• Accompanying editorial: Stroke Recovery-Moving in an EXCITE-ing Direction: Andreas R. Luft, MD;  Daniel F. Hanley, MD; JAMA. 2006;296:2141-2143.  (Available for purchase)

Neuroplasticity with Dr. Norman Doidge (BSP 26)

Episode 26 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. Norman Doidge, MD, author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (2007).  Dr. Doidge and I agree that neuroplasticity is the most important discovery about the brain that has been made in several hundred years.  In his interview, Dr. Doidge talks about some of the obstacles that delayed this discovery including what he calls the "plastic paradox," which is the fact that plasticity itself can contribute to the development of rigid behaviors, including addictions and bad habits.

The Brain That Changes Itself includes the work of the key scientists of neuroplasticity.  In my conversation with Dr. Doidge, we talked about the work of Paul Bach-y-Rita, Edward Taub, and VS Ramachandran.  Dr. Doidge also shared how his own work is being affected, and why he thinks neuroplasticity has the potential to lead to more important discoveries.

I will be talking to Dr. Taub in Episode 28.  If you are new to the Brain Science Podcast, you may want to go back and listen to Episode 10, which is where I first introduced neuroplasticity in my discussion of Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley.

You can learn more about Dr. Doidge's work at his website: http://normandoidge.com

How to get this episode:

• Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.

• Buy mp3 for $1.

• Buy Transcript for $1.

• New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.