Sensory Garden Boosts Physiotherapy Results

By Voon Miaw Ping KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 5 (Bernama) -- On a sunny morning at a garden in Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), an elderly woman and a man on wheelchair were playing a game of giant snake and ladder, using a huge dice. They were both patients at the UMMC. The game might look simple to many, but to them, it is a task that required special effort. This was because one them was recovering from stroke, while the other from an accident that had seriously injured both his legs. They were in the rehabilitation process to regain the function in their limbs. The game was one of the features at the hospital's Therapeutic Sensory Stimulation Garden (TSSG) that had been carefully selected to assist patients in their rehabilitation process. TSSG A TSSG is an outdoor environment that is specifically designed to incorporate elements that can stimulate the eight senses of a person. According to UMMC Head of Rehabilitation Medicine Department Prof Dr Lydia Abdul Latif apart from the five conventional senses, namely hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste, a TSSG also focuses in stimulating a person's supra senses, which are emotion, space and spiritual. "A garden by itself is therapeutic, but to make a garden a TSSG, there are certain elements that need to be considered and added in to stimulate the eight senses, such as plants of vibrant colours and smells, water features and paintings. "A TSSG will encourage physical therapy, functional therapy like doing gardening, play therapy and psychological therapy for relaxation. A person's spirits can automatically be lifted upon entering a space with greeneries, brightly-coloured plants, or even soothing music," she told Bernama. SENSORY GARDEN Located at sixth floor of Menara Selatan (South Tower) where the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is housed, UMMC's therapeutic sensory and stimulation garden prides itself as the first of its kind in the country. It opened its door in 2012. The brain behind its creation is Dr Zaliha Omar, the former head of department of UMMC’s Rehabilitation Medicine Unit. “At the time, UMMC was building a new building. We were lucky in the sense that the garden is already part of the drawing. So what I did was, I seized the opportunity to introduced the concept of TSSG at UMMC by including all the eight elements to create the garden,” she said. Through her 40-year experience working with patients of various disabilities, she discovered that using non-medical approaches as part of the healing process could yield very positive results with patients. “A lot of the times, we find that patients undergoing rehabilitation need more than gyms, clinics and medicine. "The outdoors is also a lot more stimulating and helpful in the recovery and rehabilitation process of patients,” said Dr Zaliha, who has also authored the book 'Therapeutic Sensory Stimulating Garden’. ALTERNATIVE APPROACH The 1,200 square metre (30x40) garden channels a serene atmosphere and many patients have found it to be a much welcomed respite from the cold hospital setting. According to Dr Lydia, patients who were encouraged to visit the garden were mostly those recovering from neurological conditions such as stroke, brain tumour, spinal cord injuries and even paediatric patients. “They are patients suffering from some form of neurological deficits, arthritis, and muscular skeletal conditions. They are already in acute condition, more stable but still need to be supervised by the nurse,” she said. At the TSSG, patients are encouraged to garden, do simple exercises or simply spend time absorbing the calmness and the positive energy radiated by the garden. For patients who were recovering from stroke, gardening provides them with challenges that would stimulate the neuroplasticity process which would encourage more coordination and recovery. Dr Lydia is optimistic that the TSSG can be an effective alternative approach to rehabilitation as the elements in the garden will help stimulate a patient’s vital senses and eventually aid the recovery process. She believed that rehabilitation did not need to be carried out in a “sterile” environment. Instead, it should be conducted in an environment that was as familiar to the patients as possible. THE FUTURE OF TSSG Realising the beneficial effects of TSSG to the wellbeing of patients as well as healthy people in general, Dr Lydia said she hoped the concept of such gardens could be promoted and incorporated into more living spaces. She also hoped for TSSG to be built in more hospitals and in the long term, for local authorities to incorporate its elements in public spaces and in private homes. "People need to understand that when we talk about treatment, it need not have to be within the four walls of a ward. Treatment is definitely happening outdoors, in the gardens as well," she said. She added that her department is also currently doing research, collecting data on patients undergoing therapy at the garden and their improvements, besides formulating models of activities and therapies for patients’ rehabilitation. -- BERNAMA