PD Case Study -- Robert Smith

Today in Neuro OCP, Haleigh presented her case study to us on a man with Parkinson's disease. Robert Smith is an 88 year old male who enjoys fishing, hunting and eating with his wife. After he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, his movements were affected and he couldn't move fast and was sort of rigid. For him to perform sit to stands, he had to really focus on balance and moved very slow. He was referred to OT for participation in the LSVT BIG program, a program centered on big movements to help combat the tremor symptoms in Parkinson's. It is a 4 week program that is also a home program. After 4 weeks of the program, Robert was able to perform sit to stands at ease without trouble. One of his main complaints was how much trouble it was for him to get up from the couch or sit down to watch TV. After the program, Robert had no trouble with this. The main thing I take away from this case study was how much progress was achieved in the LSVT program. I had heard of this program before, but after seeing before and after videos, I was really impressed with the amount of progress the client was able to achieve.