Introducing our client, Olly Dibsdale. On the 10th of November 2015, Olly sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) after falling off his bike when he was riding it without wearing a helmet. Olly was taken to hospital and spent 4 weeks in critical care in Coventry, then transferred to Birmingham Childrens Hospital and then in March the following year went to Birmingham Hospital and Central England Rehabilitation Unit (CERU), Leamington which offers neuro rehabilitation to adults following acquired brain injury.
Before the accident, Olly was a happy young man that was always out and about with his friends. The accident not only just impacted Olly, but it also had a huge effect on his family.
Following his discharge from Leamington, Olly travelled North to join an intensive rehabilitation programme, and once that rehab was completed Olly then started his journey at PhysioFunction. Olly had limited mobility which involved loss of balance, functional movement and muscle weakness.
Olly’s goals were to improve in walking and work on arm function as well as consider supported living.
Olly has been attending Physiofunction for two and a half years and thoroughly enjoys his sessions with Michelle. Michelle has employed handing techniques to lower the tone in Olly’s arm, as well as gait re-education to improve his walking. The sessions also involve a range of stretching activities to help maintain muscle length, strengthening, balancing and posture exercises.
Olly’s walking has significantly improved, and he has gone from using the treadmill with the Litegait to now walking independently for 5 minutes. He continues to work on his strength using the Desmotec D-Line and V-Line and also uses the Mindmotion to keep improving his balance and co-ordination.
Olly is a wonderful young man with a great sense of humour and during the past year we have seen an incredible difference as his independence has expanded. He is now in supportive independent living and currently enjoys jigsaw puzzles and has taken up a passion with gardening. Due to his life-changing injuries, and the hope that others don’t have to go through what he has, he has been raising awareness of the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a bike. Olly has a petition on Change.org where he is attempting to make wearing a cycling helmet compulsory by law Petition · Fight to make bike helmets law · Change.org
He was also invited to Westminster by the Under Secretary of State for Transportation to discuss the consequences of not wearing a helmet when he fell off his bike and why it should be law to wear a helmet when riding one.
We asked Olly if you could give one bit of advice, what would it be? Without hesitation he replied, “Wear a helmet”.
If you have been affected by a Brain Injury and would like to find out more information on how Physiotherapy for Brain Injury can help, please click here or to book an assessment contact us today.
