The Stroke Rehabilitation Program at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center provides comprehensive rehabilitative services for people who have experienced a stroke. Stroke’s effects are highly individualized – depending on the location and intensity of the brain injury. Mobility, communication, swallowing and thinking abilities may be affected.
Ohio State provides personalized rehabilitative care that addresses each person’s unique condition and needs and promotes the best pathway to recovery. Ohio State’s care team uses evidence-based therapies to help each person reach the highest level of functioning and the best quality of life.
Our Patients
Ohio State offers stroke rehabilitation services to patients from the young adult thru geriatric years. These individuals may be affected by:
- Hemorrhagic stroke (related to blood vessel leak and bleeding in the brain)
- Ischemic stroke (related to a blocked vessel and lack of blood flow to the brain)
- Disorders causing damage to the brain (multiple sclerosis or brain tumors)
Why choose The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center?
Ohio State’s comprehensive rehabilitative care programs help people optimize their abilities and achieve a higher level of independence. Here’s why people choose Ohio State for stroke rehabilitation:
Personalized Care: You will receive a personal evaluation that helps create an individualized care plan to meet your needs and lead you toward your health goals. Ohio State offers continuity of care that begins with emergency services, continues in acute care and inpatient therapy, and supports you with outpatient services after your hospital discharge.
Unique Services: Our rehabilitation specialists have pioneered important therapies related to stroke rehabilitation, including the use of Botox®. Given in very small amounts directly to a specific muscle, Botox® can block the transmission of certain nerve impulses. This can help relax muscle spasticity that may occur after a stroke. Throughout your care, you will benefit from working with staff who have specialized training and certification in stroke-related treatments and therapies. For example, Ohio State is the only facility in central Ohio to have a board-recognized specialist in swallowing disorders. In addition, Ohio State offers a specialized educational series for you and your family that is dedicated to stroke recovery.
Accredited Programs: We are proud that our Inpatient Rehabilitation Programs at Dodd Hall and our Outpatient Medical Rehabilitation Programs are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). CARF recognizes our programs as meeting the highest standards in quality, safety and outcome measures, which provide risk-reduction and accountability in our patient care. We are the only rehabilitation program in central Ohio certified for both traumatic brain injury and stroke.
Nation’s Best: Ohio State’s rehabilitation program consistently ranks among the best in the nation. As an academic medical center, Ohio State offers comprehensive medical expertise, the most advanced technologies and treatment techniques, and innovative care backed by research knowledge.
Our Services
Your rehabilitation program may include:
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Technology
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Testing, Training and Services
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Therapies
Your Treatment Plan
Our rehabilitative programs help you overcome stroke damage with treatment plans that may include:
- Optimizing brain plasticity, rewiring the brain for recovery
- Exercising to help improve strength, swallowing, communication and thinking
- Improving skills needed to perform daily activities
- Developing strategies to compensate for functional problems
- Adapting leisure activities improve quality of life
Your Treatment Team
Your personalized treatment plan starts with a team of specialists who may include:
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians or physiatrists who specialize in helping people regain body functions lost due to medical conditions or injuries
- Neurologists who specialize in disorders of the nervous system
- Neurosurgeons who specialize in surgery on the brain and other parts of the nervous system
- Neuropsychologists specialize in the effects that injury to or diseases of the brain and spinal cord have on emotions, behavior and learning
- Certified rehabilitation nurses who specialize in the care of the chronically ill and injured
- Physical therapists who specialize in helping patients achieve maximum strength, balance and mobility
- Occupational therapists who specialize in improving patients’ ability to complete activities of daily living
- Speech-language pathologists who specialize in helping patients improve communication, cognition and swallowing
- Recreational therapists who specialize in providing education and community-based interventions to improve patients’ physical, mental, social and emotional well-being
- Respiratory therapists who specialize in assessing and treating breathing disorders
- Dietitians who specialize in nutrition and dietetics
- Social workers who specialize in the social, emotional and financial needs of families and patients
- Case managers who specialize in the coordination of inpatient and post-hospital care and services for patients and families
- Rehabilitation engineers who specialize in determining, implementing and training patients on assistive technology devices, such as wheelchairs, special computer workstations and remote control systems