If you are reading this page you most likely are familiar with Parkinsons Disease (PD). If you aren't, no worries, we offer many resources and links to sites where you can learn more than you might want to know.
Your familiarity may be due to either yourself or a family member being diagnosed with PD. This diagnosis brings with it weighty concerns about the future, especially in the functional movement department and what this means for them or you.
If this is the situation you are facing you are most likely looking for information around what to do about it! And the good news is you have come to the right place!
No doubt understanding an illness or disease is very important. But what's most important is what can you do about it! How can you address all the challenges of PD and work towards the best outcome to secure the brightest future?
At NexGen Rehab and Wellnessl our approach is one that understands the science, physiology and latest medical literature of all conditions that we treat. But, more importantly, it's what can we do about it. Or, even more importantly, what can you do about it! Together, we make a team and for Parkinson's disease a team is what you need. Our team works with you and together we determine not only what is the most contemporary best practice or treatment but what is best for you or them.
To successfully manage PD means to maximize quality of life.
New evidence for treatment of PD is ever emerging and much of it is due to the science of Neuroplasticity. It is teaching us that the brain can change through new growth and reorganization. Remember the days when it was thought that only the brains of children had this ability (including when I was in medical school)?
I am very pleased to say that we know better now and this thinking is no longer so. The brain CAN continuously change over a lifetime. All brains, no matter how young or old retains this ability and it has been some of the most exciting news in recent decades especially for PD.
What does this mean for you or your family?
Because PD is considered a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that effects movement, using what is now known about brain plasticity (flexibility,) in coordination with therapeutic movements can significantly improve quality of those movements and therefore the overall quality of life. The brain can reorganize itself by forming new neural pathways and connections that then over time can improve function.
Again, this is a thrilling discovery and from this neuroscience there has emerged new forms of therapeutic treatment for PD that has been found to be very successful. It combines the use of brain science and formation of new pathways and neural circuitry with cognitive and physical activity, exercise and physical therapy.
Over the years there have been many PD breakthroughs especially in regards to medications and procedures that may be helpful. But what remains consistent throughout all the PD breakthroughs is the importance of exercise, cognitive and physical activity and physical therapy. Click here to learn why physical activity and exercise is of upmost importance for most all illnesses and how "inactivity is more to blame than age when older people lose the ability to do things on their own".
SO JUST WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Start With Getting Organized
It begins by building a diverse team of health experts that are suitable to your specific needs. Not all PD patients are alike and your team should fit you.
The team should also follow a patient-center care model meaning they organize around you. This will help to not only manage symptoms but to thrive and maximize quality of life.
This may seem overwhelming at first so it will be easier taking just one step at a time. One health expert at a time. Once you start putting a team together they will then be able to assist you in organizing and moving your care forward, one health expert at a time. If you find it difficult to navigate, a Health Coach, can assist you in getting organized with a plan.
Recommended healthcare experts may include but are not be limited to:
A Physician, the right PD physician. A physician that specializes in PD and movement disorders. More specifically a Neurologist that has experience and/or specializes in PD. Your physician can optimze your medications and refer you to a neurosurgeon if a deep brain stimulator is a device that might be beneficial for you.
If you are not already under the care of an expert in PD, we can help refer you to one. But if you are, then your next step is to build out the rest of the team which may vary based on your specific needs but would most likely always include physical therapy.
Physical therapists (physiotherapists) are movement disorder specialists and often have advanced training in PD. They use a combination of neuroplasticity science and movements to assist in rewiring the brain and creating new neural curcuits.
These varied movements stimulate new pathways in the brain and can reroute ineffective networks and circuits promoting smoother motions.
Physical therapists also customize treatment for associated balance disorders, disfunctonal posture, ridgity and poor flexibility, weakness and abnormal walking including the "freezing" that is common with PD. They can also assist also with preventing falls as PD can make you a high fall risk. If you are experiencing difficulty with performing daily functional activities an Occupational therapist may be beneficial for you. 
Occupational therapists assist PD clients by modifying the home environment and help with revising daily functional tasks, such as, reaching into a kitchen cabinet or taking a shower so you can perform your activities of everyday life.
They can also work with fine motor tasks like writing that is so often effected by PD tremors and finding specialized assistive devices to make your day safer and easier whether it be for walking or a specialized computer mouse to work on the computer.
If you find you are also experiencing difficulty with speaking or swallowing you may also consider a Speech therapist.
Speech therapists or Speech-language pathologists treat talking and eating challenges. They assess and treat a variety of communication issues and swallowing problems that are sometimes a result of PD.
Health & Wellness Coaches can help you in getting organized. Coaches assist clients by developing individualized strategies toward not only achieving their health & wellness goals but many life goals. Coaches walk with their clients through a process that examines all the dimension of their life and look at how they impact their current health.
Responsibilities, work pressures, financial strains, poor nutrition & fitness, and many overall lifestyles can effect health for all of us. A diagnosis of a chronic illness like PD can cause you to spin out of control and lose your balance leading to emotional and mental disorders in addition to the disease itself.
This is where Health & Wellness Coaching can help to assist you. Together, you first assess the current dimensions of your life. Together, you determine and envision your goals. Together, you create a plan to get you back in control of your life. It gives you a plan to get your center back and refocus so that you manage the disease instead of the disease managing you. READ MORE
Nutritional Counselors are another important piece within the team. Very often you can get two-for-one and your Health coach can fulfill this role during the Coaching process if you like, but a nutritional assessment is a very important piece within the plan. Nutritional counselors can assess your current nutritional plan and guide you in optimizing your food choices to what is most beneficial for you. They can also assist with preparing foods that are easy to chew and swallow but provide maximal nutritional value. What you put into your body is as important as what you do with your body. Think of food as medicine!
Although PD symptoms express themselves largely with movement disorders sometimes PD clients find they experience non-movement symptoms such as, difficulty coping, depression, apathy, constipation, sleep disorders, loss of sense of self and cognitive impairment.READ MORE
Mental Health Professionals (Social worker, Counselor, Psychologist) can work with a client or family member to address these types of issues.
They can also assist with insurance, housing, social services and disability by navigating you through the medical system and finding state and federal services you may be able to receive but were unaware of.
You or your family member may not need such a comprehensive team but its alway good to know what is available and have some guidance of where to start. PD is stressful of itself and having a helping hand along the way makes managing the disease much easier. The first step is your choice of PD physician to manage medical issues and medications, a PD physical therapist to begin to address any movement disorders and a Health coach to guide you in creating a strategy by which to successfully manage PD and optimize your life. Other recommendations will emerge from there.
Parkinsons Disease Treatment is one of our passions!
At NexGen Rehab and Wellnessl we can provide many of the team members if you find you are in need. This is truly patient-center care. At NexGen Rehab and Wellnessl your time is your time. We offer 1 hour, one-on-one, sessions in the comfort of your own home, that are focused only on you. We will never pass you off to a group class or an aide to deliver your treatment.
To know that a Parkinson’s disease patient has some hope, and that symptoms and progression may be helped by rewiring the brain, can be life changing.
WHAT TO DO
TREATMENT
The NexGen Rehab and Wellnessl clinicians are Certified in Parkinsons Disease therapy that is the latest generation of treatment from Dr Farley, a developer of the well known LSVT BIG and LSVT LOUD programs. The PWR! (Parkinsons Wellness Recovery!) program, PWR!4Life and PWR!Moves addresses all movement dysfunctions while assisting in rewiring your brain.
PWR!4Life™ is not a static or singular approach. It is a comprehensive neuroplasticity-principled program that integrates the latest research on Parkinson disease and Rehabilitation, Exercise, and Wellness. Therefore, it is always being updated. This type of research-based integrated exercise and wellness programming is necessary to counteract the inactivity, motor deterioration, and symptoms of PD.
PWR!4Life is a PROACTIVE program that allows you to optimize your brain change (neuroplasticity), brain repair, and increase your desire to participate in everyday LIFE. Therefore, it should start at diagnosis and continue “4 Life”!
With early intervention and ongoing programming, you can GET BETTER and STAY BETTER. But better yet, your efforts may trigger positive brain changes (neuroplasticity) that are disease modifying and thereby, contribute to slowing the disease progression.
A PWR!4Life Program is about more than exercise! It is also about empowerment – teaching you what you CAN do to use your FULL potential and get the most out of life. PWR!4Life is also about removing barriers to optimal brain health and repair by addressing the non-motor symptoms that interfere the most with your ability to participate in exercise and LIFE. For example, stigma, stress, poor nutrition and non-motor symptoms like anxiety, sleep problems, apathy, and pain are pro-degenerative and thereby, make Parkinson disease symptoms worse! READ MORE
Building Blocks of FUNction“Use It Or Lose It!” – Reinforce Your Dopamine Circuits
PWR!Moves is a PD-specific skill training program to maintain or restore skills that deteriorate and interfere with everyday movements.
Dr. Farley created PWR!Moves® as the EVOLUTION of her original LSVT BIG® exercise program. The BASIC4 | PWR!Moves® offer a flexible and functional amplitude-focused exercise approach that targets multiple symptoms, and that allows for adaptation for disease severity.
PWR!Moves can be combined and progressed into a stand-alone group program or intergrated into ANY exercise program, ANY activity (function, activites of daily living, recreation, sports, and hobbies), in ANY setting (community group or rehab 1:1), by therapists and fitness professionals.
The BASIC4 | PWR!Moves are performed with large amplitude, high effort, and attention to action in multiple postures (floor, all 4’s, sitting, and standing). They specifically target “4” skills shown by research to interfere with mobility in people with PD (Ridgity, Bradykinesia, Incoordination and Automaticity).
Research suggests that WHAT you do is important! The WHAT you do should be about vigorous aerobic exercise and PD-specific skill training. The skills that deteriorate in PD interfere with everyday movement, therefore, movements become slow, small, and poorly sequenced.
To maintain or restore those PD-specific skills, a PWR!4Life Program involves the daily rehearsal of big and fast, whole body functional movements – these are called the BASIC4 | PWR!Moves. Studies suggest that the combination of these types of exercise (aerobics and skill training) may enhance learning and automaticity beyond what is possible with either one alone!* READ MORE
Finally, HOW you practice is essential to your ability to GET BETTER and STAY BETTER. It is not enough to just practice the same small and slow movements over and over again without paying attention to the quality of the movement. Instead, it is about improving the quality of your practice, being engaged, and being challenged physically and cognitively to DO MORE! When you work with one of our PWR! Certified Therapists or Instructors in a rehab or group fitness setting, you will get to experience how Exercise4BrainChange® can truly help you get the most out of your practice.* READ MORE
PWR!4Life™ Program Essentials for Wellness Recovery
Optimize Your Medication
Research shows that medications and exercise act in synergy. Optimal medications enhance your ability to optimally participate in exercise and life – which in turn may reduce the amount of medications you need over time! Just like you see your physician every 6 months to optimize your medications, you need to see your PWR! Therapist (Coach) to update your exercise and wellness program.
The NexGen Rehab and Wellnessl Team works with our PD client to help them change their brain in order to change their body to optimize their quality of life.
We are here to help you and your family optimize your brain and maximize your body so you can enjoy the life you deserve!
Call now 951-344-6141 to schedule for a Free 15-minute phone consultation to see if you are a good fit for our services and to help you accelerate the rewiring of your brain and improve your function or CLICK HERE.
Parkinsons Disease Resources
Parkinsons Foundation: www.parkinson.org
Micheal J. Fox Foundation: www.michealjfox.org
American Parkinson's Disease Association: www.apdaparkinson.org
Parkinson's News Today: www.parkinsonsnewstoday.com
European Parkinson's Disease Association: www.epda.eu.com
The Davis Phinney Foundation: www.davisphinneyfoundation.org
The Parkinson Alliance: www.parkinsonalliance.org
Caring.com: www.caring.com
PWR4life: www.pwr4life.org
World Parkinson's Coalition: www.worldpdcoalition.org
