Parkinson Disease: Treatment by a Physical Therapist

To learn more about how a physical therapist can help you, and find a physical therapist in your area, visit www.MoveForwardPT.com.

Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure used to treat a variety of disabling neurological symptoms—most commonly the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), such as tremor, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movement, and walking problems.  The procedure is also used to treat essential tremor, a common neurological movement disorder.  At present, the procedure is used only for patients whose symptoms cannot be adequately controlled with medications.

DBS uses a surgically implanted, battery-operated medical device called a neurostimulator—similar to a heart pacemaker and approximately the size of a stopwatch—to deliver electrical stimulation to targeted areas in the brain that control movement, blocking the abnormal nerve signals that cause tremor and PD symptoms.

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Treatment guidelines: Parkinson's disease

The Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy has created some really state of the art guidelines documents for physio therapeutic treatment of some major pathologies. I have presented that before, but I thought it would be useful for students to have access to each treatment guideline separately in this blog.

So, here is the guideline for Parkinson's disease.