Jose, I suggest you go for rotation first, especially trunk rotation,
ideally actively by the patient in lying and sitting, buit if they are very
rigid you may need to perform this passively in the first instance.
Achieving heel strike during gait will also help to normalise movement and
give the patient confidence that they will be more able to stop when they
want to. Improved extension comes with improved walking. Freezing can be
helped by a variety of tricks - using rhythm or imagining a step to climb
over might work sometimes - but by far and away the most important thing to
do is to work closely with whoever is prescribing the medication and
encourage the patient to take it as prescribed and report back. The
Parkinsons Disease Society based in London (I think they have a web site)
can provide you with loads of very useful professional and patient
literature.
Nikki Adams [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: jose thomas <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 1999 5:52 AM
Subject: Info regarding Movement Disorders...
> I am a Physical Therapist working in the Department of Neurology of Sree
Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences & Technology India. I am also
part of a project for Parkinsons disease. I joined the physio mail base last
week. I found some interesting topics for discussion.I would like to open up
another topic for discussion .What do you feel about the Freezing ,
Festinating gait and the rigidity seen in parkinson patients.Is there any
method by which it can be controled.I have seen that there is improvement in
the gait pattern if the patient is put on static cycling (with decrese
tension)and concentrate on free movement.These patients was in the
stage2-2.5 of the Hoehn&Yahr staging.
>These patients do not have any arm swing while walking.These patients tend
to go to the universal flexion.Should we concentrate on extension
exercises. Bed & mat exercises have shown some amount of results.Plese give
me your valuable opinion on this subject.I have been working with
Parkinsonian Patients for the past one year
>With regards,
>Jose P.Thomas
>
>
>
>
>
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