Page 40 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2017- Online Magazine

Patients

Get BIG

and LOUD

to Battle

Parkinson's

by Leslie Cranford

Covenant outpatient therapy program trains exercise approach with documented improved ratings
patients to help with disease symptoms. on tests of motor functioning, after treatments, in people
with Parkinson’s. Improvements include faster walking
Maria Najera smiles with her head held high as she walks with bigger steps; improved balance, and increased trunk
confidently across the room, with almost no visible sign of rotation. LSVT BIG trains a single target of amplitude
the Parkinson’s disease she was diagnosed with three years (bigger movements); drives intensive and high-effort
ago. practice; teaches the amount of effort required to produce
normal movements; translates bigger movements into
After a falling accident, Maria worked with Johnny real-world, everyday activities; and empowers people
Waggoner, an occupational therapist at Covenant Health, to with Parkinson’s with their potential to improve. LSVT
help her with walking. BIG also teaches patients how to avoid inactivity and keep
their movements alive during every day activities. It helps
“Johnny taught me how to walk straight, and how to stretch the patient participate fully and improve quality of life.
my muscles whenever I did exercise...I really enjoyed coming,
because he made it fun and easy,” she said. “He really talked Dr. Katie Hendley, a Covenant neurologist, says the
me through it, making sure I was a fighter; not to let the program is the most well-studied physical therapy
Parkinson's take me the other way, but for me to fight it.” program for Parkinson’s disease, and she has seen
firsthand, the impact it has on her patients.
Waggoner, who works regularly with people with
Parkinson’s, sees every day how his efforts help people “We see fairly dramatic changes in their walking; they
improve their quality of life – and their families’. will stand more upright, their balance will be improved.
They’ll have better core strength and endurance. They will
“To know that the person will become more independent, be able to walk faster. They will fall less, and overall just
safer and more efficient and be able to overcome obstacles in have more independence
all of their daily tasks is very exciting, and to know that their and mobility,” Hendley
function at the end of their time in treatment will far exceed said. “We use this program
their initial evaluation status, it’s more than rewarding,” throughout the spectrum
Waggoner said. of the disease.”

To make life easier and safer for Parkinson’s patients, The ultimate goals are
Covenant Health’s outpatient therapy uses the LSVT BIG safety, strength, range
and LOUD programs, which are all about training both the of motion and balance,”
voice and the body. Waggoner said.

The LSVT programs have been developed and scientifically “Falling is one of the main
researched over the past 20 years with funding from the things we’re looking to
National Institutes of Health. prevent,” he said. “We
have people who may
According to its website, LSVT BIG is a research-based have been falling three to

40 Lubbock Senior Link