New Approaches Center

Rehabilitation Services, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists

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(231) 929-8383Call Visit WebsiteVisit Website Map & DirectionsDirections5123 N Royal DrTraverse City, MI 49684 Write a ReviewWrite Review

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Mon - Fri:	9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Places Near Traverse City with Rehabilitation Services

Chums Corner (10 miles)
Grawn (11 miles)
Acme (12 miles)
Cedar (15 miles)

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Extra Phones: Phone: (231) 929-7358
Payment method: insurance
Other Link: https://newapproachescenter.com
Categories: Rehabilitation Services, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Physical Therapy Clinics, Physicians & Surgeons

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Phone: (231) 929-8383

Address: 5123 N Royal Dr, Traverse City, MI 49684

Website: https://newapproachescenter.com

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New Approaches Center

General Practitioners

Sleep Disorders
Nearly all of my head-injured patients have some form of a sleep disorder. This is rather confusing because people with head injuries can also have a fatigue disorder. You would think people with a fatigue disorder would want to sleep all the time or would sleep like rocks. You can, however, have both problems.
Emergency Care
The next emotional phase that I see people typically go through is denial. The patient says, " There's nothing wrong with me. " For example, they're in a motor vehicle accident, they're briefly seen in an emergency room, and they go home. Suddenly, they're having difficulties. They're forgetting things or burning food. Family members may say, " you seem different. " But the head-injured person says " No, there's nothing wrong with me. " Often the medical system unknowingly supports denial. Many doctors will say, " Go home, relax for two weeks, and everything will be better." For some people, things don't get better. They wonder why they're doing some silly things. For example, why did they put their shoes in the refrigerator? Or why did they put the milk in the closet? They have these odd events and they keep rationalizing them away. Denial can be very difficult for both family members and medical staff. For example, the head-injured person may say, " Yes, I can drive, " but family members who have been with the person know that it would be dangerous. This can stir up huge arguments. The person in denial says there's nothing wrong, even when directly confronted by family members. When someone is in denial, you must give consistent feedback that everything is not "okay." Generally, very direct feedback is necessary. However, some people get really angry when they're constantly being told "NO". I often find that distraction, such as changing the topic of conversation, is better than getting into long-winded or violent arguments. For example, the head-injured person may want to drive when it's not safe to do so. Instead of arguing, it might be better to say, " Your doctor has not cleared you to drive " and move on with the conversation.

Internal Medicine
Internal Medicine -- A good way of thinking about this physician is to look at what is inside or "internal" to your body (dealing with your guts and organs). Internal medicine deals with the complex interaction of systems inside your body. This doctor is usually a consultant rather than someone who follows your care from start to finish.

Depression

MRI
Diagnosing a head injury is not a simple thing. If your doctor does not believe that you have a head injury, you will not get the treatment you need. Why doesn't the doctor believe you? From the doctor’s perspective, standard medical tests to diagnose head injury are often negative. In nearly 85 percent of the patients that I see, the CT Scan or MRI (these are very expensive machines that take a picture of the brain) results are "negative"—in other words, normal. People can have significant head injuries and still not have a positive finding on these tests (medicine is strange, a positive finding means they found something--it's not "positive" in the sense of being good for the patient). In fact, all the medical tests can be negative on a person who still has a significant head injury. For example, the blood work may be fine, and the patient may be able to stand, walk, and talk without difficulty. But the head-injured person may have significant problems with memory, fatigue, and headaches. You have to remember that doctors are trained to rely on medical tests to give them direction on what to do next. If all of the medical tests are negative, what is the next step?
X-Rays
Computed Tomography
Radiologist -- This is a physician who specializes in looking at X-rays, CT Scans or MRI's. He or she is involved with diagnosing problems using X-ray or other imaging equipment. They look at the X-ray or CT Scan and then send a report to your physician.

Neurosurgery
The biggest and most advanced part of the brain is the frontal lobe. (It's called the frontal lobe because it's in the front part of brain.) One job of the frontal lobe is planning. You have probably heard of "frontal lobotomies." At the turn of the century, this surgery was done on people who were very violent or who were in a psychiatric hospital because they were very agitated. Doctors used surgery to damage this area of the brain. Following this surgery, people became very passive and less violent. At first, scientists saw this as a great thing. Neurosurgery could stop behavioral problems such as violence. The problem was that the patients stopped doing a lot of other things. They didn't take care of themselves and they stopped many activities of daily living. They basically sat there. In head injury, individuals with frontal lobe impairment seem to lack motivation and have difficulty doing any task that requires multiple steps (e.g., fixing a car or planning a meal). They have problems with planning.

Physical Therapists

Physical Therapy
If you have one or more of these headaches, what should you do about them? Let's start with the neck/back of head pain. After an accident, your doctor may send you to a physical therapist. It is important to find a physical therapist who is familiar with this problem. The first time a physical therapist works on your neck, the pain may get much worse. I've even had one or two people say the pain was so bad that they passed out. And this was just from simple moving or stretching. Many people say " I went to this physical therapist and it made me worse so I'm not going back. " Tell your physical therapist that you hurt. But remember, it gets worse before it gets better. Physical therapy alone may not be enough. You may have to continue loosening these muscles up by exercising. Of all the exercise approaches, most of my patients feel that swimming is a big benefit. A warm water pool is probably one of the very best ways of preventing these headaches. Its also very helpful for a lot of people who have back pain.
Occupational Therapy
Is there anything you can do to help with the confusion and agitation phase? One thing is to reduce stimulation. In the early recovery period, someone who gets a lot of stimulation during the day will often become agitated or confused in the late afternoons or evenings. Some stimulation is an unavoidable part of the normal hospital business. For example, there is speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy during the day. The head-injured person can become very tired by these activities. By the evening (or even earlier), it only takes little stimulation to get someone agitated. Try to decrease stimulation in the person's room. Close the blinds and keep the TV off. People will send the patient hundreds of cards, letters, stuffed animals, pictures, and so on. Family members should try to limit this to a few things because it can be visually distracting and overwhelming.
Neck Pain
Back Pain

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