Group Exercise for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Moving away from tradition is considered an exciting thing within the realm of physical therapy. Especially now, we have more evidence geared towards outcomes of treatment and their overall effectiveness. One innovative idea is that individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) need a different type of treatment than standard physical therapy.

Anna Knorr discusses an idea she had about the management of people diagnosed with PD during some of her clinical experiences. Anna discusses how the use of group exercise classes (including but not limited to Tango, balance training, etc.) in conjunction with treatment from a physical therapist can be used to increase a patients functional outcomes. She also touches on the benefits of having a new and exciting treatment activity to help patients with the psychological aspects of their disease.

We as physical therapists are psychologically inclined when treating patients because of the amount of time we are spending with them. We are known for this! What I want to point out is that we often do not use this to our advantage in treatments.

I think we can offer more to our patients by forming a relationship with them. What this allows us to do is know our patient so well that we can determine best treatment. That was Anna’s point. Figuring out what treatments most positively affect a person’s overall health. This includes measures of functionality we use day-to-day, psychological measures, and other things like nutrition. Offering a program like Anna is discussing addresses all those aspects of health.

Group Exercise for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Pedaling for Parkinson’s

Mikaila Foster, working with other student physical therapists, came up with a very unique way to treat a patient. Hint: it involved pedaling.

I began cycling while I lived with my previous college roommate. He was a member of the NAU triathlon team for a period of time, and has ran multiple marathons. Because of him I really started to appreciate what cycling could offer to my own health. A very close friend of mine actually took time to help me build a bike from the ground up. It is one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had.

I do not claim to be an expert by any means, but I do feel that I have some knowledge on the subject. My knowledge of cycling and my genuine passion for it predispose me to seek out research and treatment practices that pertain to it.

Enter: Pedaling for Parkinson’s.

The reason this is great, similar to therapeutic climbing and some other posts coming up, this type of therapy is fairly new and exciting! In essence, the project is centered around the idea that repetitive motions, such as pedaling, can generate the amount of repetitions  necessary for neural adaptation. It goes without saying that the current amount of repetitions are vastly lower than what should and could be offered. Unfortunately, our healthcare system is not efficient enough to offer patients the most beneficial practices all of the time.

What Mikaila and the other SPTs did was just short of extraordinary. She is proposing a new and unique exercise treatment for individuals with Parksinson’s. It’s an aspect of therapy that many have not considered as a viable option. I love what they did and I know I will consider it as a treatment option, especially because of my own positive experiences with cycling.
Pedaling for Parkinson’s

Advocating for the AGPT

Hey everyone,

Awhile back, I posted my article, “Advocating for the AGPT,” to Twitter and Facebook. This article will be featured in July’s edition of GeriNotes, one of the journals through the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy (AGPT). I decided to post it through my blog in hopes to raise awareness on this topic as GeriNotes is not a public access journal.

To learn more about the AGPT please visit the AGPT’s website or visit them on Facebook, AGPT, or Twitter, @AGPTtweets.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Here is the file:

Advocating for the AGPT