Environmental Neurorehabilitation: Harnessing the Power of the Environment in Rehabilitation Following Neurological Conditions

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Norwood, M
Pretty, D
Marsh, C
Shirota, C
Gillet, C
Zeeman, H
Kendall, E
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Kuhn, Simone

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2024
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Abstract

The global need for rehabilitation is steadily increasing due to the greater likelihood of survival following severe neurological injury. However, survival means more people are living with disability, resulting in demand for health and rehabilitation systems, most of which are stretched beyond their capacity. The environment is a constant factor in our lives and can have a significant impact on brain structure and activity. Despite this potentially important impact of the environment on recovery following brain injury, it is usually overlooked in neurorehabilitation. In the early stages of rehabilitation, the environment is designed for clinical efficiency rather than for individual well-being. In the later stages of recovery, the person’s environment can become increasingly diminished due to the loss of employment, social connections, and other roles. Environmental neuroscience is well-placed to inform patient-centred approaches to rehabilitation and health care through improved and facilitative environmental design. In this chapter, we propose the purposeful inclusion of the environment in rehabilitation services at all stages of recovery and across all contexts. First, we outline how fundamental concepts such as neuroplasticity and neurogenesis and the environment are interrelated, and the implications for neurorehabilitation. We discuss the role of technology and virtual environments, the built and natural environments, and the importance of brain imaging techniques that can determine environmental interactions. The implications for research, challenges, and future directions are also discussed. Readers will hopefully be convinced that is important to understand how—or rather where—neurorehabilitation is delivered in the future.

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Environmental Neuroscience

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Rehabilitation

Neurosciences

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Norwood, M; Pretty, D; Marsh, C; Shirota, C; Gillet, C; Zeeman, H; Kendall, E, Environmental Neurorehabilitation: Harnessing the Power of the Environment in Rehabilitation Following Neurological Conditions, Environmental Neuroscience, 2024, pp. 391-428

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