Parkinson's Disease: Exercise and the Mind

I recently came across this article from the NY Times, "Exercise Can Be a Boon to People With Parkinson’s Disease" which reports on the benefits of exercise on alleviating Parkinson's symptoms.

“The earlier people begin exercising after a Parkinson’s diagnosis, and the higher the intensity of exercise they achieve, the better they are,” Marilyn Moffat, a physical therapist on the faculty of New York University, said. “Many different activities have been shown to be beneficial, including cycling, boxing, dancing and walking forward and backward on a treadmill. If someone doesn’t like one activity, there are others that can have equally good results.”

The article further reports that another patient's tremors disappeared while riding a bicycle. Unrelated to this article, I also stumbled upon this YouTube video "Cycling for Freezing Gait in Parkinson's Disease" which shows a patient perfectly riding a bicycle on his own.

Similar to my previous blog on the effects of music on a Parkinson's patient, the transformation in the patient during the activity is amazing.

In The Knowbodies podcast "Can Your Brain Heal Your Body? with Erik Vance", Erik discusses the deficiency of dopamine in Parkinson's patients and how dopamine is involved in the reward system. As a result, the placebo response is high for Parkinson's patients. He further discusses how belief and how physical therapy treatment is presented can impact the placebo response in PT patients. A very interesting podcast to listen to.

Recently I have had the pleasure to meet with another Pittsburgh entrepreneur, Courtney Williamson, PhD., who founded abiliLife. AbiliLife has developed Calibrace+, the only back brace designed specifically for Parkinson's patients. Courtney developed the product after recognizing that her mother, a Parkinson's patient, suffered from poor posture and balance. Calibrace+ is covered by Medicare and private insurance.

PT-Helper has added a set of MOVE BIG exercises to our portfolio of exercises. Search for 'Move BIG' in CONNECT's exercise list to display the available exercises.

Effects of Music on a Patient with Parkinsons Disease

I was delighted to find this video post on Facebook by Anicea Renee Gunlock of the immediate and stunning results that music has on her patient with Parkinsons Disease. Please watch the video to see for yourself.

Otago Exercise Program To Reduce Falls

During the 2016 Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Fall Conference, we were approached by a few therapists asking if PT-Helper included Otago exercises. At the time, we were not aware of Otago and decided that we needed to find out more. A quick online search revealed that the Otago Exercise Program is an evidence-based program developed in New Zealand to reduce falls among older adults.

The Carolina Geriatric Education Center at the UNC School of Medicine has been training physical therapists to use the Otago Exercise Program resulting in a 35-40% fall reduction rate.

Every year, as many as 1/3rd of all older adults will suffer a fall. Reducing these fall rates with a progressive prevention program can save serious injury and many other complications.

PT-Helper has added Otago exercises to its database for therapists to prescribe to their patients. The exercises can be quickly found by searching for "Otago" in the Add Exercise page or duplicating the global Otago Exercise template into your local CONNECT template.

For older adults with significant balance concerns, you may want to recommend that they do their balance exercises with their hand over the kitchen sink providing them with an easy mechanism to grasp the edge should they loose balance. Dr. Stephen Kanter PT, DPT, ATC of the International Multiple Sclerosis Management Practice recommends this safety approach to his neuromotor patients.

Sign up for the FREE 30-day trial for CONNECT exercise prescription service, it's only $20/month with unlimited number of patients after the free trial. Sign up here today.

Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises

We have added pediatric exercises to our CONNECT library which are also accessible via the mobile app. Infant Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises are for parents to work with their children. Our animated illustrations on the app show parents the correct positioning and process for each exercise. Feel free to share with your patients in need!

Some examples of illustrations for Left Torticollis:

Find out more on our website...

Neuromotor Exercises for people with Multiple Sclerosis

We have added Neuromotor exercises that are recommended for people with Multiple Sclerosis to our CONNECT library which are also accessible via the home exercise mobile app. Working in conjunction with Dr. Stephen Kanter PT, DPT, ATC, the exercises that have been added to PT-Helper include both good and bad behavioral instructions, safety preparatory positions, and active exercises. Dr. Kanter has worked with patients with Multiple Sclerosis and patients with balance, gait and endurance impairments. Dr. Kanter is currently the Supervisor, Rehabilitation Services at International Multiple Sclerosis Management Practice.

PT-Helper will be participating in the 19th Annual MS Patient Education Symposium on October 16, 2016 hosted by the TISCH MS Research Center of New York. People with Multiple Sclerosis, their family members and caregivers are welcome to attend for FREE! Registration is required at www.tischms.org.

PT-Helper is proud to sponsor Team Tisch MS.

Shoulder Conditioning

We noticed a large number of people are coming to our website searching for shoulder exercises. With this observation in mind, we would like to share a Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Conditioning Program from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Opioid Use #ChoosePT

Awareness of prescriptive opioid abuse in the United States has gained national attention with drug overdose deaths hitting a record number in 2014. Over 50% of those deaths involve a prescriptive opioid. In addition, opioid dependence has led to a rise of 3000% in medical services.