Human brain helps rehabilitation of injured upper limbs
The plasticity or adaptability of the human brain is assisting patients with serious upper limb injury to rehabilitate, according to a paper presented at the recent Hand Surgery and Hand Therapy Congress in Sydney.
Professor Goran Lundborg, an international hand expert from Sweden, said the brain holds within it a map of the body. Those areas of the body with high levels of sensory input – like the face, lips, tongue and hands – take up proportionately greater areas of the brain.
“Your brain receives sensory input and “fires” with hand movement; additionally, the same areas of the brain also fire simply by watching someone else’s hand move or even thinking about your hand moving,” he said.
