NeuroVita - Occupational Therapy

19/05/2026

We love to hear what we are doing is making a difference. 🙏

Fernanda is a skilled occupational therapist who joined us not long ago and she's already leaving her mark — not just clinically, but in the way she connects with every person she visits.

At NeuroVita we focus on a blend of neuro specific care and real connections.

Thank you Peter, and thank you Fernanda. 💙

📞 1300 034 812
🌐 www.neurovita.com.au

29/04/2026

🧠 Creatine and Brain Injury — What Does the Research Actually Show?

If you or someone you love has experienced a traumatic brain injury, this one is worth reading.

Most people don't realise that the damage from a brain injury doesn't stop at the moment of impact. It triggers a cascade of secondary damage that unfolds over hours, days and sometimes weeks. Cells that survived the initial impact die in the aftermath. This is why someone can seem okay after a brain injury and then deteriorate.

Creatine sits at the centre of almost every step of this cascade. The biology is genuinely compelling.

So why don't we have clear answers?

The only controlled human clinical evidence comes from one research group in Greece — working exclusively with children. Three papers. Same cohort. All open-label. Meaningful results — shorter ICU stays, better cognitive recovery, fewer headaches, less fatigue. But open-label means bias risk. And these were children. Whether any of it translates to adults is unknown.

In 2026 there is not a single blinded adult RCT. Not one.

The US Department of Defense flagged this gap in a formal paper last year and called for large-scale adult trials.

We also explore the "protective shield" question — whether creatine supplementation before injury in predictable high-risk populations like athletes and military personnel could change what happens when the impact comes.

Full article in the comments — we've done the research so you don't have to.

If you're on the Gold Coast and supporting someone through brain injury recovery, this is our neck of the woods — happy to chat: neurovita.com.au

Follow NeuroVita for parts 3, 4 and 5. 🧠

Evidence-based, personalised support from a Gold Coast occupational therapist.

22/04/2026

The most cited “negative” creatine stroke study may not have tested what people think it did.

Creatine is being talked about everywhere right now for brain health and recovery — including stroke.

But when people say “creatine doesn’t work after stroke,” they usually point to the 2024 ICaRUS trial.

The problem?
That study was not actually testing creatine as a rehabilitation tool.

It looked at whether 7 days of creatine during hospital admission could prevent early muscle loss after stroke.

That means it did not test:
• long-term recovery
• neuroplasticity
• cognition
• community rehabilitation outcomes

And importantly — creatine typically requires weeks of consistent dosing to meaningfully raise brain or muscle stores.

So the study may have answered:

“Can a short course of creatine during acute hospitalisation prevent immediate muscle wasting?”

But it did not answer:

“Can creatine support stroke recovery over months of rehabilitation?”

That distinction matters.

A much smaller 2022 study found stroke survivors taking creatine during rehab improved walking distance more than placebo — but the sample was too small to draw firm conclusions.

What the evidence really says

Right now the science is:

✅ biologically promising
✅ incomplete
❌ not clearly negative

The biggest missing piece is simple:

No major study has properly tested sustained creatine use through the stroke rehabilitation phase.

That’s the study clinicians actually need.

At NeuroVita, we believe the conversation around neurological recovery should be driven by what research actually shows — not just headlines.

Part 2 next: traumatic brain injury — where the evidence gets even more interesting.

P.S. want to review the studies, here check the comments for the list of studies.

Call now to connect with business.

14/04/2026

"The doctors told me I'd never recover properly."

"There's no point trying anymore — I've been told this is as good as it gets."

"After 12 months, my neurologist said I wouldn't see any more improvement."

I hear versions of these sentences all the time. Sometimes from clients. Sometimes from families. Occasionally I find them written in referral notes.

And every time, I feel the same thing — a quiet frustration at what those words cost people. Not because the clinicians saying them are bad clinicians. Most are experienced, well-meaning people doing their best in a system that gives them 10 minutes and a waiting room full of patients.

But the science is uncomfortable on this point. We know that self-efficacy — a person's belief in their own capacity to take the actions required to improve — is one of the strongest predictors of rehabilitation outcomes after neurological injury. Patients who believe recovery is possible work harder in therapy, persist longer through setbacks, and as a result demonstrably achieve better functional outcomes than those who don't (Check the comments for links to relevant articles).

We know neuroplasticity doesn't switch off at 6 months. Or 12. Or 5 years. The brain's capacity to reorganise and adapt is not governed by the timeline that was previously taught.

And we know that words said by a healthcare professional carry enormous weight — weight most of us probably underestimate in the moment we say them.

So this isn't an attack on anyone. It's a genuine ask.

Before you tell someone they've plateaued — is that clinical certainty, or is it the limit of what the current service can offer them? Because those are very different things. A plateau in one context, with one therapy dose, with one approach, is not a ceiling. It may simply be the edge of what that particular pathway could provide.

Before a family member tells their loved one to "be realistic" — consider that hope, even cautious hope, is neurologically and psychologically protective.

Before we close a door in a conversation — ask whether we'd want that door closed on us.

Expectation management matters. Nobody is suggesting otherwise.

But there's a meaningful difference between managing expectations and closing doors.

Managing expectations sounds like: "We don't know exactly how far you'll get, but we know that belief, effort and persistence matter — so let's keep going."

Closing doors sounds like: "You've plateaued. This is as good as it gets."

Both are honest. But only one leaves the person with something to work with.

You don't have to promise outcomes you can't guarantee. Honest, measured optimism isn't false hope — it's good clinical practice.

And it's entirely compatible with being straight with someone about where they are.

Have you heard these words said to a patient — or said them yourself? I'd be interested in your experience below.

09/04/2026

Building a Neuro OT practice means finding the right people to join our team.

Fernanda brings over six years of experience supporting people following stroke, brain injury, and complex neurological conditions and a Master's Degree in Neurorehabilitation.

She has a genuine passion for upper limb recovery and works with a calm, considered approach that puts the client's goals at the centre of everything. Evidence-based, consistent, and person-centred.

But in all honesty, even though her expereince speaks for itself, we chose Fernanda because of who she is not what she brings. She is kind, hard working and dedicated and a genuine joy to work with.

Outside the clinic she loves the outdoors and staying active — and brings that same discipline to her clinical work.

We're grateful to have her as part of the NeuroVita team.

08/04/2026

I've always been fascinated by the brain and the body.

From early on I can remember being curious about how we work — how we move, adapt, recover, and rebuild after injury (Maybe because i've had so many injuries myself 😅). Something about it just clicked for me in a way that other areas of health never quite did.

That fascination led me to occupational therapy. And OT led me, pretty inevitably, to neurology.

Because nowhere else do you see the brain's capacity for change more clearly. The plasticity. The resilience. The moments when someone does something that everyone, sometimes including me, thought was behind them.

Six and a half years in and the thing that continues to surprise me isn't clinical. It's personal.

Every client has taught me that understanding who someone is — their life, their relationships, what actually matters to them — is as important, if not more important, than understanding their condition and the evidence base behind it. You can know every protocol in the literature and still miss the point entirely if you don't know the person in front of you.

Outside of work I'm a family man who loves exploring the outdoors, playing sport and learning new things. I've always loved that feeling when something clicks, a concept that unlocks the ability to understand more, or a specific cue that unlocks the ability to perform. Probably why I ended up in a corner of the profession that keeps you constantly on your toes.

I started NeuroVita because I believed people with neurological conditions deserve clinicians whose priority is truly understanding the brain, the nervous system, and the most effective ways to support real improvement.

Three years in — I've never been more sure of it.

Rickey, Founder, NeuroVita