Think Big to Move Big- Parkinson’s Exercise Class

          Parkinsons disease is a disorder that affects the nerve cells in the part of the brain (substantia nigra) that helps control your body’s movement.  Symptoms of Parkinsons disease progress over time and initially the symptoms usually affect only one side of the body.  Symptoms often include:
·        Involuntary tremor
·        Muscle stiffness
·        Shuffling steps when walking
·        [...]

Living with Parkinson’s Disease: What Physical Therapy Can do for You!

Parkinson’s disease occurs when the brain does not produce enough dopamine, a chemical that is necessary to help your body control movement and coordination.  Because of the lack of dopamine, your muscles become stiff making many activities of daily living more challenging.   The most common symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include:
·        Muscle stiffness
·        Stooped Posture with [...]

Living with Multiple Sclerosis: What Speech Therapy Can do for You!

There is a common misconception that a speech-language pathologist only treats speech production and articulation.  However, when working with individuals with a neurological diagnosis, we target so much more.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affects approximately 1 in 700 people or about 400,000 Americans with over 1,500 Idahoans diagnosed. Many people go without treatment or help because [...]

Find Your Voice: Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT®)

Nearly every person (89%) with Parkinson disease will have problems with speech that start early in the disease process and progressively diminish quality of life:
·        Soft Voice
·        Mumbled speech
·        Monotone speech
·        Hoarse voice
·        Decreased vocal stamina
Medicine and surgery may dramatically improve the other symptoms of Parkinson disease, but they don’t help speech disorders. The only [...]