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.
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