By Beth Millage, DPT
Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute
Mercy Hospital Outpatient Therapies
Beth Millage, DPT works at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute at Mercy Hospital. She is a graduate of the University of North Dakota and has been a PT for 12 years working in a variety of settings. Beth loves working with people with PD and their care partners to help them achieve active lifestyles. She has had additional training with the LSVT BIG Certification Program and the latest evidence-based program for PWR! (Parkinson’s Wellness Recovery). Formerly with Struther’s PD Center and now at Mercy OP PT, she has been working with a team establishing best practice guidelines for Courage Kenny and wrapping up a research study on using LSVT BIG with people in Stage I of PD.
April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, and I would like to discuss a research-based exercise approach used to treat Parkinson’s Disease (PD) symptoms. The LSVT (Lee Silverman Voice Treatment) BIG program was developed to help those with PD learn to move with BIG movements and with greater speeds to decrease muscle stiffness, improve walking, and improve daily movements. The program is completed 4x/week for 4 weeks with one-on-one instruction with a PT or OT certified in this approach. The person with PD will learn the daily movements as well as spend time working on components that are challenging personally to them while working intensively to “calibrate” the movements to be larger and more effective for daily life.
Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute offers LSVT BIG training at all of their hospital-based outpatient neuro clinics and LSVT LOUD is offered by Speech-Language Pathologists. Following completion of the program, “graduates” may participate in twice monthly community classes to improve adherence to the program and receive the benefits of participating in group exercise.
My colleague Erin Vesey, DPT and I recently completed a pilot study using LSVT BIG at our Mercy Hospital clinic with those in Stage I of PD. Every participant in our study showed improvements in the tests of walking, reaction time, balance, and quality of life from start to end of their training.
Study results: participants in Stage I of Parkinson’s Disease in the study got better and remained better after training (we followed them for 3 months after their training for this study)
- Community/group classes may help promote exercise adherence and maintenance of improvements made in PT
- LSVT BIG may help to slow the progression of the disease and improve function for better quality of life for a longer time-frame
I encourage those with PD to seek out rehabilitation specialists and physicians for their care team that have specialized in PD and have additional training in working with this population. Research in the field of PD and exercise continues to show that intensive exercise is valuable.
If you are interested in more information, please contact me at beth.millage@allina.com or call our outpatient clinic at Mercy Hospital, 763-236-8910.
Keep moving BIG!
Beth Millage, DPT
Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute at Mercy Hospital
Thank You to Beth Millage of Mercy Hospital for this week’s article on Parkinson’s Disease. Remember that here at Live Your Life Physical Therapy we want to make sure that if you or someone you love has Parkinson’s Disease that you Live Your Life MOVING BIG & STRONG!
Dr. Eva Norman
President & Founder
Doctor of Physical Therapy
Live Your Life Physical Therapy, LLC
Illustration/Information from The Mayo Clinic