Cognitive prerequisites of geriatric rehabilitation

Rehabilitation aims at the restoration of maximal independence and autonomy after functional loss due to illness or accident. In old age tosses of ind ependence in daily life and autonomy are accounted for up to 60 % by person al deficits in cognitive abilities. Functional losses in cognitive abilitie s represent a higher risk of having an accident or becoming ill. Cognitive performance proves to be predictive for success of rehabilitation, independ ent of functional state. Using the example of a fracture of the femur it ca n be shown that sensory and cognitive deficits increase the risk of acciden ts and that executive abilities co-influence long-term results. Strokes are more frequent if cognitive deficits have existed before and the resulting damages are stronger Long-term results generally depend on complex abilitie s like everyday competence, reasoning and memory. Experiences with patients with dementia undergoing a memory training show that learning strategies a re rarely generalized. Therefore in rehabilitation specific disorders, as f or example cortical or subcortical patterns, have to be treated by differen t rehabilitation methods in the sense of differential rehabilitation. For t his an early neuro-psychological assessment of the geriatric rehabilitation patient is needed. The cognitive-psychological findings only scarcely and insufficiently enter diagnostics and therapy. The diverse cognitive disorde rs have to be taken in account more frequently in education and differentia l rehabilitation methods have to be developed for geriatric patients with c ognitive deficits.