I am certain there are highly qualified physical therapists who frequently see people with Parkinson’s (PWP), have reviewed the literature, adjusted their approaches based on responses and have not been targeted as a valuable resource for this population by various Parkinson’s Disease (PD) organizations or by the local communities where you live or work. I am just as certain of the lack of knowledge many therapists have regarding PD. Since I am a physical therapist, I know we can’t be specialists in everything – life is too short. My specialty is treating people with PD and similar disorders. This is all I do all day. If I was asked to treat a total shoulder I would definitely have some reading to do and would be able to help someone at the more basic level.
I hope this blog will offer exposure for the experienced therapist, mentor therapists who are interested in treating this population and offer some ‘basics’ for the physical therapist who is seeing a PWP for that orthopedic problem. I also hope to enable PWP to find physical therapists who are knowledgeable in PD. There are many resources available here which are easy to access. This of course is a work in progress.