Symposium

Brain Injury

Clinical Practice (assessment, diagnosis, treatment, knowledge translation/EBP, implementation science, program development)

Confound to Consciousness: Interdisciplinary Spasticity Management in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness Part 1

Thursday, November 10, 2022

10:45 AM – 12:00 PM

Presenter(s)

Brooke M. Murtaugh, OTD, OTR/L, CBIST, BT-C

Brain Injury Program Manager
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States

Slides
Craig DiTommaso, MD

Director of Early Career Physician Development
US Physiatry
Humble, Texas, United States

Slides
Katherine O'Brien, PhD

Clinical Neuropsychologist
TIRR Memorial Hermann
Houston, Texas, United States
Marie Cannon, OTD, OTR/L

Occupational Therapist
Nexus Specialty Hospital, United States

Effective spasticity management is imperative to potentially identify consciousness earlier which can impact subsequent treatment, interventions and prognosis. Part 1 of a proposed 2 part symposium will provide a pathophysiological overview of spasticity in DoC after severe brain injury. Current evidence will be disseminated related to the epidemiology of spasticity in the DoC population. This symposium will explore spasticity considerations in bedside DoC behavioral assessment and how to mitigate spasticity as a confounder to accurate assessment and diagnosis. Attendees will engage in critical examination of spasticity and its long term behavioral and functional implications in recovery from severe brain injury. An interdisciplinary team approach to spasticity management and problem-solving will be emphasized. This symposium will provide the building blocks to greater clinical understanding of spasticity presentation in the DoC population and set the stage for addressing medical and rehabilitation interventions for spasticity management.

Learning Objectives:

• Define pathophysiology of spasticity in DoC.
• Describe incidence and presentation of spasticity in DoC
• Explore therapeutic strategies to inhibit secondary and tertiary effects of spasticity.
• Describe how spasticity can impact consciousness assessment, diagnosis and prognosis.
• Explain interdisciplinary team approach to spasticity management with DoC.