If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, you may be facing symptoms such as tremors, slow movements, fear of falling or a soft voice that causes difficulty being heard or understood. These symptoms pose significant challenges not only for people with the disease, but for their family members and caregivers, as well.

Our program goes beyond standard treatment options with expert therapy that dramatically improves patients’ ability to move better and speak more clearly. Our approach combines physical, occupational and speech therapy. Let’s take a look at our treatment options:

Treatment options

  • Physical Therapy: For many sufferers, the most common and troubling symptoms — lack of coordination, balance, walking and postural problems — can be effectively addressed through physical therapy. A customized program of therapeutic exercises, with guidance from one of our specialized therapists, can also help with flexibility and fall prevention.
  • Occupational Therapy: This can help a patient maintain and improve their level of self-care, work and leisure activities, with special attention to challenging activities of daily living, such as showering and getting dressed, preparing food and eating. Many patients receive help with handwriting, which commonly becomes small and illegible.
  • Speech Therapy:  This addresses speech and communication difficulties commonly experienced by people with Parkinson’s disease, whose voices tend to lose volume, become monotone and hoarse. These changes, along with articulation difficulties, may make sufferers difficult to understand. In addition to traditional speech therapy techniques, the program’s speech and language pathologists are certified in Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT-Loud), an innovative and effective technique for improving voice volume by retraining patients on the ability to perceive, modify and improve the level of effort needed to produce effective sound.

For most people with Parkinson’s disease or related disorders, there is no reason not to continue working. However, if work becomes difficult or unsafe, our rehabilitation specialists can help:

  • Determine what job duties you can realistically and safely continue to do
  • Suggest adjustments in work schedule or assignments or modifications in the workplace
  • Teach techniques for performing specific job duties