What is rehabilitation therapy? A new tech-enabled solution to repair damaged components

Although rehabilitation medicine is a relatively young field of multidisciplinary research, it has found its way to India. Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital is one of the few institutions in India to explore the possibilities and has just launched its Department of Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Medicine. Dr. Paresh Doshi, the new director said, “As the name suggests, Restorative Medicine deals with restoration of body functions. This can be done in several ways. We can use modern technology to restore body functions among patients with cognitive decline. This can be the result of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, post-stroke syndrome, slurry speech or paraplegia after spinal cord injury and such triggers. Currently, these patients have to live with the possible defects. However, bio-prosthetic limbs, visual aids and even contrast brain interfaces may help restore function among these patients. We can treat chronic conditions such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain, paralysis after a stroke, memory loss or Parkinson’s. Some are offered as clinical treatment options and others as part of a research study.

For example, deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – a non-invasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate neurons in the brain – is known to be very effective in managing symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Studies have shown that intensive TMS treatment during persistent depression, when the patient is partially responding to the treatment, is more likely to be successful. A study has shown how deep TMS has the best results in managing depression. “Similar benefits have been found in stroke and Alzheimer’s disease,” he added. “Also, orthobiologics can be used to treat bone diseases using biological tissues in the human body, such as blood, fat or bone marrow,” he said.

The new treatment methods were given to two patients suffering from severe chronic pain, and doctors need more time to announce the results. Currently, the hospital offers cell-based therapies with platelet-rich plasma and orthobiological therapy for femoral head vascular necrosis (death of bone tissue due to lack of blood supply).

“We are also using superficial deep transcranial magnetic stimulation. We have a state-of-the-art Brainsway TMS machine that delivers Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) therapy to patients. This is probably the only and most comprehensive event in the country that can offer rTMS treatment. This drug-free, non-invasive approach uses magnetic stimulation on your scalp to generate magnetic pulses that stimulate the areas of the brain responsible for pain, mental disorders, and neurological disorders,” explains Dr. Doshi.

He feels that these methods of treatment define the future of medicine in which many disciplines interact to improve the quality of life of patients. “The future of medicine may change in the next ten years. We rely heavily on areas of science that we currently do not consider interacting with medicine. Such platforms will not only allow further development and collaboration between different medical sub-specialties, but also between different medical-engineering and technology specialties,” he said. .