Dr. Kenneth Ngo Discusses Brain Injury Rehabilitation

Oct 6, 2020

Medical Reviewer: Kenneth Ngo, MD

Last Updated: October 5, 2021

Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Dr. Kenneth Ngo. I am the Medical Director for the Brain Injury Rehab Program here at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital.

Particularly, over the last 10 years, a lot of the care has been transitioned quickly from the hospital setting to the home to outpatient and to the community. So, thankfully, Brooks had planned ahead and anticipated that change and have the whole spectrum of services to care for patients with brain injury and we’re also venturing out to test new technologies, so one of the highlights is the Cyberdyne technology that we have adopted over the last two years Brooks is the only center in the nation that adapted this technology early utilizing it and learning it and hopefully sharing with the rest of the world on how it will help patients.

I think in my opinion I think there are many misconceptions about brain injury and one of the most common misconception is that: if a patient looks fine from the outside, that everything is fine. And I think that’s a difficult topic to discuss and to convey that the brain is very complicated – I think we all know that — but when a brain doesn’t work properly it’s difficult to show that. You have to spend time and really understand how the brain works normally and how to tease out what’s abnormal and what’s not.

We’re one of the first centers in the nation to aggressively mobilize patients who are in the disorder of consciousness. We involve patients’ families very early on, we hold team meetings regularly to discuss progress and it is data driven. Our program has been in existence for over 30 years so with that experience of caring for patients in the disorder of consciousness that gives us an advantage in caring for these patients. Things may be different now but the ability to participate in all of those activities that one was able to do before, now able to do that after the injury. And that is the most rewarding part.

Our Experts

Check out the other videos in our physician series!

Medical Reviewer

Kenneth Ngo, MD

Medical Director of Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital – University Campus, Medical Director of the Brain Injury Program & Brain Injury Day Treatment Program

Dr. Ngo came to Brooks from Wisconsin, where he completed his residency in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and completed his internship at the Michigan State University. He is Board-Certified in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, with subspecialty board certification in Brain Injury Medicine and has been at Brooks Rehabilitation since 2010. Dr. Ngo provides care for patients with complex, catastrophic neurological and other brain injuries, both inpatient and outpatient through the entire continuum of brain injury rehabilitation.