What qualifies as major multiple trauma?
Major trauma occurs when a patient experiences several serious injuries at once, from a vehicle crash, a serious fall, exposure to explosions, or other violent events. These injuries often result in severe bleeding and/or broken bones.
Some common traumatic injuries include:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Acoustic trauma
- Broken bones
- Crush injury
- Concussion
- Broken or dislocated jaw
- Collapsed lung
- Cuts and/or puncture wounds
- Facial trauma
- Spine fractures
- Spinal cord injury
- Skull fracture
Major multiple trauma may cause critical brain injuries, organ failure, breathing problems, excessive blood loss, loss of limbs, or permanent disability. As a result, most patients who experience multiple traumatic injuries require specialized treatment and therapeutic modalities to increase their chances of recovery.
Treatment for Major Multiple Trauma
Physical Therapy
When managing multiple trauma injuries, physiotherapists begin with trauma therapies to manage the immediate physical trauma effects. Your therapy team stabilizes and handles all medical actions resulting from the traumatic effects. The central focus is on preventing further harm to injured patients by stabilizing them and their present condition while moving forward with repairing the physical damage.
Occupational Therapy
Multiple trauma patients may also require occupational therapy that helps relearn the skills needed to manage daily activities at home and work. This may include preparing meals, bathing, loading laundry, and using an electronic device.
Cognitive Rehabilitation
Not all symptoms of multiple traumas are visible. A patient’s shuttered sense of physical security, possibly coping with loss of work, and living with severe pain often need more care than simply rebuilding a healthy body. Some injuries require much more than simply recovering from physical disabilities.
Cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) helps treat cognitive conditions that may result from multiple traumatic events. Many medical issues, such as concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), multiple sclerosis (MS), dementia, or Parkinson’s disease, can cause temporary or permanent cognitive impairment.
Group Therapy
Group therapy is another critical treatment modality for major multiple trauma patients. This treatment option enables patients to share their traumatic experiences with other patients who’ve been in similar situations.
Sometimes, sharing helps make the idea of talking about traumatic events with friends, families, and medical experts less threatening. Group therapy also helps patients cope with traumatic memories and handle post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.
A Multidisciplinary Approach
Some rehabilitation centers use multiple care settings and programs to determine the best choice for rehabilitative care for each patient, based on might include:
- Assisted living & memory care centers
- Community programs
- Day treatment programs
- Home health
- Home care services
- Technology support
A strong multidisciplinary approach focuses on research, professional practice, quality, patient experience, and informatics.
Advanced Technologies for Trauma Care
Industry leaders have worked to provide top-of-the-line, scientifically proven technologies and tools to diagnose and treat trauma patients. Up-to-date technology, the latest research, and new treatment modalities help medical teams learn each patient’s story and use data to diagnose and treat them.
Some proven technologically advanced treatments for helping major multiple trauma include:
- AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill
- Andago
- Armeo Spring
- Balance Master
- Bertec Prime IVR
- Bioness Integrated Therapy System (BITS)
- C-MILL
- Erigo
- Hybrid Assistive Limb
- Indego Exoskeleton
- ICARE
- RAPAEL Smart Glove
- ReWalk Restore Soft Exo-Suit
- Tobii Eye Gaze I-15
- ZeroG
Tried-and-true, evidence-based treatments mean patients who experience multiple traumas have an opportunity to recover from their injuries and live as independently as possible.
Brooks Rehabilitation System of Care
One thing that sets Brooks Rehabilitation apart is our expertise in caring for multiple trauma patients. Our compassionate and capable team of specialized and certified therapists is dedicated to providing best-in-class care. Our primary obligation is to diagnose, treat, control, and aid each patient’s physical and psychological recovery from major multiple trauma events.
Contact us to find a location near you and to make an appointment.