Neurologic Physical Therapy in Recovery from Brain Injury
Jared Stehr MSPT | Spring 2023

Stroke, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury are common diagnoses treated by neurologic physical therapists (PTs). The course of treatment varies widely based on the severity of the injury and the potential for recovery. For example, a mild stroke, called a Transient Ischemic Attack, may require no therapies. On the other hand, a severe Traumatic Brain Injury or incomplete spinal cord injury may benefit from PT treatment for years if functional gains continue.


By and large, PT approaches to brain injury have one significant commonality: using sensation and feedback to elicit a response. The goal is to provide the brain with a stimulus (input) and train the brain to respond with a consciously controlled meaningful output or appropriate motion. This process has come to be referred to as part of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the “capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections and behavior in response to new information, sensory stimulation, development, damage, or dysfunction.”

Quite often, the causes of a particular TBI also cause damage to the musculoskeletal system. Most of these orthopedic injuries, whether fractured bones or damaged joints, will heal in a much shorter time than the recovery of the brain itself. Therefore, the healed body may be waiting for months and years to receive instructions from the brain. As the neuroplastic recovery occurs in the central nervous system, time may elapse. The musculoskeletal system will rapidly deteriorate if the Written by Jared Stehr MSPT brain cannot instruct the body to move and interact with the physical forces and stresses of the world that ordinarily keep it well-conditioned. While waiting for the brain to recover, it is imperative to keep the body “ready to go.” This is reminiscent of the classic axiom, “Use it or lose it.” Preventing joint contractures, minimizing the loss of muscle mass, and weighting the skeletal system to stimulate bone density are essential components of treatment.

Specific neurologic therapy will begin in tandem with orthopedic interventions, increasing in duration and intensity as the patient is able to tolerate new challenges. All physical therapy aims to maximize the patient’s purposefully controlled motion. For example, a relearned movement could be turning the head left to right, pointing a finger, taking one step, balancing on one foot, performing a jumping jack, or throwing a ball. As simple motions are mastered, more complex motions are layered with others to complete tasks eventually. These purposefully controlled motions are combined again and again, creating complex movements that are performed to function and interact with the world.


Immediately following a neurologic injury, PT treatment time is primarily spent on balance, gait, and transfer training. These are paramount in a patient’s ability to return home and regain the initial levels of independence. As recovery progresses, the focus changes to more advanced activities of daily living, function, and potentially return to occupation.

A new trend in neuro-PT treatment is high-intensity training, specifically High-Intensity Gait Training (HIGT). By having a patient ambulate vigorously and continuously, many bodily systems are stimulated simultaneously, creating a cascade of physiologic responses that appear more efficient at eliciting recovery than most traditional PT treatments. While conventional neuro-PT treatments focus substantially on the quality of motion, HIGT deemphasizes the quality of motion if it is safe. Research supporting this approach has caused professional PT organizations to revise their Clinical Practice Guidelines, prioritizing using HIGT as a primary treatment for many neurologically involved populations (www.neuropt.org).


In the proper environment, with the appropriate equipment, HIGT is a treatment option even for severely impacted neurologic patients. Adultsized gait trainers can support the full body weight of a patient if required while keeping them safely within a rolling frame. Both legs may be used to ambulate inside this device, and full weight bearing is encouraged. Ceiling-mounted track systems allow patients to don a full trunk harness and safely walk a circuit while tethered to the installed ceiling track. And finally, if the patient is medically cleared for aquatic therapy, walking in a pool arguably allows the greatest customization of HIGT treatment. The water depth can be chosen to minimize or maximize buoyancy/ impact forces. The viscosity of the water resistively slows motion, lowers fall risk, and provides constant background strengthening. The water’s temperature and enveloping sensation often normalize muscle tone and decrease spasticity. At the moment, the prime limitation of aquatic neuro-PT treatment is access. The availability of suitable therapy pool facilities is low, and the time commitment plus preparation to participate by the patient is high.


Of course, physical therapists do not treat patients in isolation. They are part of a team of allied health professionals, including occupational therapists, speech therapists, recreation therapists, and assistive technologists. Each discipline evaluates patients, determines appropriate goals, and creates a treatment plan. Ideally, each discipline will integrate nonspecialized treatments from the care plans of the other providers as the patient progresses. This reinforces functional gains for the patient. A physical therapist might integrate breathing control into exercises to support what the patient is learning in speech therapy. The occupational therapist might add a simple standing balance task into an activity to reinforce the physical therapist’s goals. A speech therapist could add accurate switch targeting into treatment to follow through with the assistive technologist’s adaptations.


Physical therapy interventions for the neurologically involved patient continue to evolve. In addition to continuously improving traditional techniques, expect to see advancements utilizing robotics, neuro-electric interfacing, and, potentially, exoskeletons. New ideas, continued research, and developing technology are all solid allies for the improved future recovery of individuals with brain injuries. 

A gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it.
By Dan Lewis Foundation April 2, 2025
For the third consecutive year, the Dan Lewis Foundation for Brain Regeneration is proud to announce the DLF Prize competition. The 2025 DLF Prize, a $20,000 award, will recognize an outstanding early career scientist (2 to 5 years post-doc) conducting innovative research in neuroscience, pharmacology, or biotechnology. This prestigious prize honors researchers whose work aligns with the DLF mission to drive breakthroughs in neural regeneration and repair. The current research priorities of the DLF are: Pharmacological Reactivation of Neural Repair: Research into pharmacological methods of reactivating or augmenting synaptogenesis, neurogenesis or axonal repair. Cell-Based Cortical Repair: Investigating the potential of derived cortical neurons to restore function in damaged cortical regions. Transcriptomics of Neural Recovery: Characterizing transcriptomic profiles of cortical neurons in the recovery phase following brain injury to identify pathways that drive repair. Molecular Inhibitor Targeting: Advancing anti-sense oligonucleotides (ASO’s) or small-molecule therapeutics designed to downregulate inhibitors of neural regeneration in the cortex or spinal cord. Application for the 2025 DLF Prize can be made by going to our website— danlewisfoundation.org —and clicking on the Tab “ 2025 DLF Prize ”. This will bring you into the application portal. The application portal opened in March, 2025 and will remain open through May 31st. Once in the portal, you will find complete information about the DLF prize, eligibility requirements, and an application form which can be filled in and submitted online. The winner of the 2023 DLF Prize, Dr. Roy Maimon, continues his research indicating that downregulation of PTBP1, an RNA-binding protein, can convert glial cells into neurons in the adult brain (Maimon et al. 2024) .* Dr. Maimon, currently a post-doc at the University of California, San Diego is currently interviewing for a faculty position at several prominent neuroscience departments. The winner of the 2024 DLF Prize, Dr. William Zeiger is a physician-scientist in the Department of Neurology, Movement Disorders Division, at UCLA. Dr. Zeiger has expertise in interrogating neural circuits using a classic “lesional neurology” approach. He states, “Our lab remains focused on understanding how neural circuits become dysfunctional after lesions to the cortex and on investigating novel circuit-based approaches to reactivate and restore damaged cortex”. * Maimon, Roy, Carlos Chillon-Marinas, Sonia Vazquez-Sanchez, Colin Kern, Kresna Jenie, Kseniya Malukhina, Stephen Moore, et al. 2024. “Re-Activation of Neurogenic Niches in Aging Brain.” BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.27.575940.
By Dan Lewis Foundation April 2, 2025
Alan was injured in 2021, at age 42. An art teacher in Lakewood, Colorado, Alan was riding his bicycle after school and was crossing at an intersection when a truck turned into the crosswalk area and hit him. Alan reports no memory of the event but has been told this is what happened. Alan says “My frontal lobe took the brunt of the impact, particularly the left frontal lobe”. Alan had a 2 ½ week stay at a nearby hospital where he, “re-learned to talk, to walk, and drink”-- although again he reports no memory of his stay there. Alan was then transferred to Craig Rehabilitation Hospital, in Englewood, Colorado. Alan says, “The only reason I knew I was at Craig is that I rolled over in bed and saw “Welcome to Craig” on the dry erase board.” During this stage of recovering, Alan repeatedly denied that he had been in an accident. Twice he tried to leave Craig on his own accord despite his wife’s and his therapists’ assurances that it was important for him to stay to recuperate from his injuries. Alan’s wife was 8 months pregnant at the time of his accident and gave birth to their son while Alan was an inpatient at Craig. Alan’s wife brought his newborn son to visit him days after the birth and Alan held him while sitting in his wheelchair, but Alan wistfully reports this is another thing he can’t remember. Alan reports that he still has significant difficulties with memory. Alan has also experienced several other neuropsychological difficulties. He states that for months after his injury, he could not experience emotion. “I could not laugh, I couldn’t cry.” Even after three years, his emotional experience is constricted. However, an emotion that is sometimes elevated is irritation and anger. Sometimes, dealing with people can be difficult because he may have temper flare-ups with little reason. This is something that Alan regrets and he is working hard with his neuropsychologist to improve the regulation of his emotions. Alan also has difficulty with organization, motivation, and distractibility. Earlier in his recovery, he had trouble sequencing and had difficulty carrying out personal and household routines. Alan has benefited greatly from therapy and his own hard work to make improvements in these areas. A chief reason that Alan works so hard in his recovery is so that he can be a good father to his son who is now almost 3 years old. He recognizes that it is important not to get frustrated when it seems that he can’t provide what his son wants or needs at a given moment. “I’m trying to raise my son the best I can…he’s at such a pivotal time in his life.” Alan’s financial situation was helped for a time by Social Security Disability Insurance payments but these payments ended. He is trying to get SSDI reinstated but the process of doing so is confusing and is taking a lot of time. Alan returned to work about 11 months ago at a liquor store (after about 2 years of not being able to work), the same store where he previously worked part time while teaching. He works in the wine department. “I sell wine and make recommendations.” When asked for advice to other brain injury survivors, Alan’s words were: “No matter how confused or upset you are or how frustrated you get, keep pressing on and moving forward because there is light at the end of the tunnel even though it may seem long. Keep moving forward and don’t give up no matter what anyone says to you”. Alan added that supports for individuals with brain injury are very important. He has found support groups, retreats, and seminars/events where brain injury survivors can share their experience to be very helpful. The volunteer work he does at Craig Hospital has been valuable for him. Alan is an inspiring individual. Despite having scarce memory of his accident and some confusion about the functional losses he has experienced, Alan has worked hard to make his recovery as complete as possible. He continues to work hard to progress and to express gratitude for those who have assisted him along the way.