Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

Different brain functions have different abilities to accommodate injuries. Speech and Occupational therapy can sometimes help the brain redesignate the area that handles a specific task.

Have you had therapy past the basics of relearning to walk? Higher level functioning therapy is less available.

What tasks do yoy do to challenge your balance and equilibrium functions? If you only notice these problems sometimes, then just going on with life will probably not lead to improvement. If you can identify where these dysfunctions are most common, then those are the areas where you need to push the limits.

I have word finding problems. My wife can often help me find the word or others will say they understand what I am trying to say and give me grace to not finish the thought. For me, I need to continue to try to find the word because it is mental exercise that may someday allow me to get some word finding functions back.

Are there balance and equilibrium tasks that you can practice in a safe environment?

I sometimes have balance problems. For me, it is usually a problem with concentration. If I stop and get focused, I can usually overcome the balance problem.

The easiest way to understand it is like this. Those of us with a brain injury and dysfunction have a limited amount of brain cells to use to accomplish tasks. If we are using too many for intellectual thought, less are available for balance and motor function. Visual or auditory distractions can often cause a weakness in other functions.

So, when we become aware of a weak function like balance or such, we need to analyze our mental work load and see if we can reduce it. When we do this self analysis, we can start to recognize patterns where we get overloaded. Now, we can start to develop disciplines to keep the mental work load at a manageable level.

Some call it the "I need to stop to think" problem.

When I have these periods (frequently), I stop, reduce my workload, focus on the task at hand, plan my next move or series of moves, and usually can go on with the task.

I am easily startled. This can leave me in mental chaos. Sometimes, I need to close my eyes to reduce the visual workload. I often use ear plugs to reduce the auditory workload.

Everybody will have different aspects of this problem. If you struggle to figure out work-arounds or other accommodations, post up here and let us help.