Definition
Rehabilitation is the systematic application of plasticity principles — use, salience, specificity, repetition, intensity — to restore function after injury or illness.
Why it matters
Modern rehabilitation is neuroscience-informed. Understanding this reframes what rehabilitation is doing at the cellular level.
The Science
Kleim and Jones’ "10 principles of experience-dependent plasticity" (use it or lose it, use it and improve it, specificity, repetition, intensity, time, salience, age, transference, interference) organize the field.
The NSI Perspective
NSI treats rehabilitation as one of the most direct clinical demonstrations of nervous system change.
Clinical Implications
Effective rehabilitation applies plasticity principles consistently.
Practical Application
Rehab is not just repetition. It is repetition of the right things, at the right dose, with the right attention. That is neuroscience.
References
- 1.Kleim JA, Jones TA. Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2008;51(1):S225–S239.