knOTts' thoughts...

Image           For my first neuro note I read the article, "Should You Play Along With Dementia Patients' Realities?" by Carol Bradley Bursack. In this article Carol describes how her father suffered a brain injury resulting in dementia (Bursack, 2021). He experiences different delusions that she chooses to support rather than telling him it never happened (Bursack, 2021). I felt this was wonderful of her to do as it was a way to not cause him distress. She was allowing him to engage in his chosen occupations without causing further harm.             I chose to read this article because I have a grandmother that has been diagnosed with dementia and I wanted to know more so I could help her. To further my learning, I researched the different stages of dementia and how to identify each stage. Based on my research, I believe that my grandmother has moderate to moderately severe dementia (stage 4 or 5) (WebMD, 2023)....

        It is extremely important to properly fit a client for a device. Proper fit increases safety and security as wells as decreases strain on the body. If the equipment was not fit properly, the client may fall or be unable to properly use it. Strain is also decreased as equipment being at the proper height, allows for better mechanics of the body.  Cane           For a cane, the hand grip should be at the level of the ulnar styloid, wrist crease, or greater trochanter. The elbow should be in a relaxed position where it is flexed 20-30 degrees. The therapist should also ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and not elevated.            For sit to stand, the client should scoot to the edge of the seat with their feet flat on the ground with toes under knees. The cane should be straight on the ground in the hand of the uninvolved side. The client should place their other hand on the armrest or ...

          For me, the Super Bowl always has the best advertisements. One ad that has always stuck out to me is the Doritos ad " Keep Your Hands Off My Doritos ." This ad impacts me because of how comedic it is. The mom in the commercial is getting ready to go on a date and leaves her son and date out in the living room. The date then tries to eat one of the boys Doritos and he slaps the man and tells him to put it back. The child then says the iconic line, "Keep your hands off my mama. Keep your hands off my Doritos."           The reason this ad was so successful has to do with how our brains react to it.  In the video, " The Neuroscience of Film ," Dr. Fahd Yazin talks about how the brain reacts to watching videos or movies. In the nervous system, the most active parts of the brain when watching something are the amygdala, corpus striatum, and hippocampus. The amygdala is what allows us to experience different emotions. ...

           A transfer is a safe movement of an individual from one surface to another such as, a tub, shower, toilet, vehicle, bed, chair, or the floor (Weisser-Pike, 2023). There are many things one has to consider before performing a transfer. The first thing to consider is the client's capabilities. Does the client have good balance and strength? Depending on the answer, is what tells the therapist what kind of transfer would be the best course of action.            The second thing to consider is the therapist's capabilities. Is the therapist strong enough to transfer the client with good body mechanics or do they need to ask for assistance? If the therapist thinks they will need assistance, they need to acquire that before setting up the transfer.            Another thing to consider before performing a transfer is the environment. When performing a wheelchair transfer the ...

           Back in 2013, Paul Erway, Aaron Roux, and Grant Berthiaume decided to complete 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 weeks. All three men have a spinal cord injury and are competing in wheelchairs. The two races out of the 50 I have chosen to focus on were on September 16, 2013 in North Dakota and September 17, 2013 in South Dakota.           Race number twenty-nine was in Bowman, North Dakota at Bowman-Haley Lake. However, they encountered many mishaps before even getting to the race. They flew into Omaha, Nebraska and the rental car company did not have their car ready (as they needed a car with hand controls). The only car they had with hand controls was a Ford Excursion, however it was so tall they had a lot of trouble getting in and out of it, especially getting in after races when they were already so tired. I cannot conceive the exhaustion they felt after propelling their wheelchair for 26.2 miles, ha...

    Three Images of People Doing Everyday Activities: Pinal is eating on the floor while studying     Allison is studying at a desk Matthew is riding a bike   Image Three Analysis:           When biking, the body is in dynamic posture because it is in motion. The pelvis is posteriorly tilted, the cervical vertebrae are in extension, the thoracic vertebrae are in slight kyphosis, and the lumbar vertebrae are in slight flexion. Both femurs are in hip flexion, the scapula's are protracted, and the head is forward. This position is more efficient for mobility than stability because of the body being in motion. This makes it more difficult for the body to change out of this position. The base of support is large as it encompasses his hands on the handlebars, his bottom on the seat, his feet on the pedals, and the wheels on the ground. The upper extremities are being used for support of the upper body as the trunk is leaning. This places ...

Image Source         White and gold or blue and black? Under normal circumstances, "l ight enters the eye through the lens---different wavelengths corresponding to different colors. The light hits the retina in the back of the eye where pigments fire up neural connections to the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes those signals into an image" (Rogers, 2015).  However, with this image our brain can't figure out what it is seeing because the camera does not have chromatic adaptation like the brain does. Chromatic adaptation  is where under different lights our brain can still tell that a banana is yellow despite the brightness or darkness of the environment. This is a great example of neuroplasticity which is, t he ability of the brain to modify its neural connections to adapt to challenges in the environment (BrainFacts/SfN, 2012). Within this example the brain has modified how it perceives color based on the time of day or light al...