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Parkinson’s Disease: Understanding the Basics

What is Parkinson’s Disease?

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement control. It occurs due to the degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in a region of the brain called the substantia nigra. Dopamine is a chemical that helps transmit signals for smooth and coordinated muscle movements.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease

• Tremors (shaking) in hands, arms, legs, jaw, or face
• Muscle stiffness
• Slowed movements (bradykinesia)
• Balance and coordination difficulties
• Speech and writing changes
• Reduced facial expression

Important Facts

• Approximately 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease.
• The disease typically affects individuals over 60, but early-onset Parkinson’s can occur in younger people.
• While the exact cause is unknown, genetic and environmental factors are believed to contribute.
• There is currently no cure, but treatment can help manage symptoms.

How Therapy Can Help:

Occupational Therapy (OT)

Occupational therapy helps individuals maintain independence in daily activities by:

• Teaching strategies to enhance fine motor skills
• Recommending adaptive equipment for dressing, writing and eating
• Improving hand-eye coordination
• Simplifying tasks to conserve energy 

Physical Therapy (PT)

Physical therapy focuses on improving movement and balance by:

• Designing exercise programs to enhance mobility, strength, and flexibility
• Teaching techniques to reduce fall risk and improve gait
• Promoting cardiovascular fitness

Speech Therapy (ST)

Speech therapy addresses communication and swallowing challenges by:

• Improving voice volume and clarity
• Strengthening muscles involved in speech and swallowing
• Teaching techniques for safe swallowing
• Enhancing non-verbal communication skills

A multidisciplinary approach involving occupational, physical, and speech therapy can greatly enhance the quality of life for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Early intervention and consistent management can help maintain independence and reduce the impact of symptoms.

Celebrate Occupational Therapy Month!

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational Therapy (OT) is a healthcare profession focused on helping individuals of all ages engage in meaningful activities, or “occupations,” that enhance their ability to participate fully in daily life. Occupational therapists work with patients to improve their ability to perform tasks at home, school, work, and in the community.

Who Do Occupational Therapists Help?

• People recovering from injuries, surgeries, or illnesses
• Individuals with physical, cognitive, or developmental disabilities
• Older adults facing age-related challenges
• Children with sensory processing or motor skill difficulties
• People living with chronic conditions like Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, or stroke

How Occupational Therapy Helps

• Promotes Independence: Helping patients regain skills necessary for daily tasks such as dressing, bathing, cooking, and driving.
• Adapts Environments: Recommending adaptive equipment and home modifications to improve safety and accessibility.
• Enhances Well-Being: Teaching stress management, energy conservation, and relaxation techniques.
• Improves Quality of Life: Focusing on personalized goals that matter most to each individual.

Join the Celebration! Spread the word about the incredible benefits of occupational therapy. Whether you are an OT professional, a patient, or simply someone who appreciates the importance of meaningful activities, let’s recognize the impact of OT during Occupational Therapy Month!

Men’s health awareness is important because men often face unique health challenges and are less likely to seek medical help compared to women. Raising awareness can lead to early detection and prevention of serious health issues, ultimately improving quality of life and longevity. 

Here are some key reasons why it matters:

Higher Risk of Certain Diseases
Men are more likely to suffer from conditions such as heart disease, prostate cancer, and high blood pressure. Awareness encourages regular check-ups and early detection.

Mental Health Matters
Men are less likely to talk about mental health struggles, leading to higher rates of untreated depression and suicide. Promoting awareness can break stigmas and encourage seeking help.

Preventative Care Saves Lives
Routine screenings, healthy lifestyle choices, and early intervention can prevent major illnesses. Many men avoid doctors until a condition is severe, which can be life-threatening.

Breaking Cultural Barriers
In many cultures, masculinity is linked to toughness and self-reliance, discouraging men from prioritizing health. Awareness helps redefine strength as taking care of oneself.

Impact on Families & Communities
When men take care of their health, they set positive examples for their families and reduce the burden on loved ones. A healthier male population benefits society.

Promoting men’s health awareness can encourage proactive health management, reduce premature deaths, and foster a culture of well-being. 

How can I take charge of my health?

• Schedule regular screenings and check-ups for both physical and mental health
• When you sense there is a problem reach out to a healthcare professional
• Make healthy lifestyle modifications 
  • Eat a balanced diet and exercise for at least 150 min per week. 
  • Get adequate sleep of 7 to 9 hours per night. 
  • Stay on top of and manage your chronic conditions.
• How can therapy help? 
  Therapist designed programs focused on 
  • Hydration 
  • Sleep hygiene 
  • Fall prevention 
  • Heart health 
  • Medication management 
  • Pain management 
  • Management of chronic conditions

If you are looking to take charge of your health, please contact the Broad River Rehab Team for guidance.

Wellness Dimensions are how we as humans define our quality of life. The Wellness dimensions consist of emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, occupational, and social. Each person defines their wellness differently. Ideally, a person should have a balance between all 8 dimensions.

How can Rehabilitation help you when you have an imbalance in your wellness dimensions?

Occupational therapists are trained on emotion, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environment, occupational, and social dimensions.

• Do you find that it is harder doing tasks in your home?

• Do you feel nervous when going to take a shower and worry about falling?

• Have you stopped participating in activities that you enjoy?

• Do you have a hard time reach high and low to grab things within your home?

• Do you find it difficult being around people? 

Physical therapists are trained in physical, environmental, and occupational dimensions.

• Are you having difficulty moving around in your environment?

• Is it getting hard to get to the bathroom at speed that prevents incontinence?

• Do you have a hard time getting in and out of your car?

Speech therapists are trained in intellectual, occupational, and social dimensions.

• Do you find that you are not remembering things like you used to?

• Do you find it difficult at times to get your words out when with other people?

• Do you find that you are having a hard time swallowing and/or eating and drinking foods and liquids?

If you said yes to any of the questions asked in this article, or want to learn more about the Dimensions of Wellness, please contact the Broad River Rehab Team for guidance.

Mindfulness is the capacity to perceive our world clearly, without adulteration or manipulation. 

Mindfulness: an active awareness of the present moment, acknowledging feeling, thoughts, and body sensations. Mindful activities can improve brain health, reduce anxiety, and improve overall wellbeing. Mindfulness has 3 elements intention, attention, and attitude. 

Mindful Walking 

Use all your senses to provide you information when walking. When we are able to slow our movements and become more aware of our environment we can reduce the likelihood of falls and injury. 

What are you seeing as you walk. This could be uneven surface, bumps, thresholds, various items that have fallen or been dropped on the ground. Being aware of your surroundings can prevent slips, trips, and falls. 

What do you hear when walking. Other people, machine equipment, animals, cars, etc. Often time sudden movements in our pathway may startle us and cause us to lose our balance, being aware of various sounds can help you prepare for incoming movements needed to stay safe. 

What do you smell when you are walking. Is something burning, are fresh cookies being made, can you smell a rainstorm starting. Using our sense of smell can alert us to dangers when walking or lead us to a place where activities are being done at. 

What do you feel when walking. Does your balance feel like its not the same, do you feel lightheaded or dizzy when you are walking, when you step can you feel your foot making contact with the ground. What you feel when walking, moving or changing position is called proprioception. This occurs when are sensory and motor neurons in the muscle, joints, and tendons are activated and provide as information on our movement. If our sensory system does not match the motor demands, we are at higher risk for falls. 

Role of Therapy 

Vision – occupational therapists can provide environmental modifications to help with low vision and reduce falls and help to retrain your eye movements to enhance your visual scanning abilities. 

Proprioception – physical and occupational therapists can provide retraining of your sensory and motor systems to enhance your ability to stabilize and move within your environment. 

INTRODUCING BROAD RIVER REHAB: OUR NEW PARTNERS FOR 2025

As we look forward to the opportunity to work alongside Kirby Pines Retirement Community, I wanted to, provide some information on areas of clinical and regulatory compliance we have that best serve our customers and communities.

Broad River Rehab was founded on October 2014 and is a therapist owned full-service provider of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology services to long term care and skilled nursing facilities, CCRCs, and assisted and independent living communities across 12 states, and 300+ sites and growing! We are humbled to serve 23,000 residents across these areas of the nation on a daily basis.

Broad River Rehab’s Senior Leadership Team has a combined 50 years of industry expertise with appointed positions in multiple organizations; including the American Association of Post-Acute Nursing and the American Medical Association; and serve as technical experts to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Guided by our Chief Strategist, we are also industry leaders in areas of artificial intelligence and the use of neural networks for identification of unique patient characteristics. We have also demonstrated national clinical outcomes well above national averages.

Broad River has a reputation of ensuring the highest level of regulatory compliance for the customers we serve. Our dedicated team members continually review and make recommendations related to billing and coding practices.

Broad River ensures all CPT coding practices are in alignment with the American Medical Association’s standards of practice, and that documentation supports skilled services on a daily basis with treatment encounter notes completed every day, for every patient.

Thank you again for allowing us to serve you and your sites in the coming months. We will welcome your current therapists with open arms. Know that Broad River Rehab employees feel valued, appreciated, and grateful to be part of a family of clinicians who put patients first.

We are truly excited and honored to be able to work together with Kirby Pines Retirement Community.

– Sumit Malhotra COO Broad River Rehab

Routine Doctor’s Appointments. Dental Visits every six months. Trips to the Dermatologist. Annual Eye Exams. Take your car for routine maintenance. What do all these things have in common? They are preventative measures to ensure peak performance! They are (or should be) done at regular intervals, but as we all know, changes can happen between those intervals. How often have you taken your car in before the regularly scheduled maintenance, or go in to the doctor’s outside of your annual exam? What if there was a way to do a “monthly check-in” with yourself to make sure your “check engine” light wasn’t about to go off?

Say “Hello” to the Monthly Wellness Pulse! Each month,there will be a different functional focus – strength and flexibility, gait and balance, cognition, etc. to quickly (and efficiently) learn about the topic and see if there is any room for improvement or areas of opportunity. Imagine if you had a quick check-in with your doctor, just to see if there was anything awry. Imagine how in-tune with your health you could be. This is the purpose of checking your monthly wellness pulse!

Between monthly pulses, you can always utilize the resident self-assessment tool. Not sure what that is? Keep reading!

The Resident Self-Assessment Tool – A quick and simpleway to identify whether completing a Functional Fitness scorecard would be beneficial for you. The Functional Fitness Scorecard identifies your current functional fitness levels and what may benefit you most – therapy, wellness, activities, or a combination of those things. This is a great way to identify changes before they result in a potential fall or hospital stay. 

Want to learn more? Please contact your therapy team at Kirby Pines for more information!

WELLNESS SELF-ASSESSMENT

1. I can participate in all wellness activities as usual.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
2. I can complete my daily tasks & activities without assistance,issues, or shortness of breath.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
3. I do not experience dizziness or lightheadedness when gettingup from sitting or lying down.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
4. I have not had a fall or loss of balance in the last 90 days.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
5. I sleep well at night / I wake up feeling rested.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
6. I can make it to the bathroom on time.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
7. UnsureI am not having concerns with my memory / I do not havetrouble finding my words.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
8. I do not have any new pain or changes in chronic pain.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
9. I do not have trouble swallowing food / I have not lost weightunexpectedly.
   TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____
10. My mental AND physical health would be described as “good.”
    TRUE _____ FALSE _____ UNSURE _____

If you answered “FALSE” or “UNSURE” to one or more questions above, the Functional Fitness Scorecard can help identify which wellness and/or therapy services are appropriate for you.

“Physical Therapy is not just about treating the symptoms, but about restoring hope and improving quality of life!”

Hello Fall! Hello Physical Therapy Month! 

Say a BIG hello to fall, pumpkin spice, baseball playoffs, football, and the holidays just around the corner. It’s also time to wave hello to the art of physical therapy and everything it can do for you! Afterall, October is PT month! 

So, what is physical therapy? Physical therapy (PT) is the art of improving or restoring function, reducing pain, preventing further injury or decline in mobility. During therapy sessions, PT’s and PTA’s will work with patients on exercise, stretching, balance, mobility, walking, use of any assistive devices, and home exercise programs to improve safety, independence, functional mobility, and decrease/ eliminate pain. 

Did you know?

• Physical Therapy was first recognized in the United States during World War I. During the war, “reconstruction aides” were nurses tasked and trained to rehabilitate injured soldiers. 
• Many of today’s physical therapy techniques date back as far as 400 B.C. Greek physicians, Hippocrates and Galen, are believed to be among the first advocates of massage and hydrotherapy. 

Physical therapy has been around for ages – and there are MANY benefits! Think you could benefit from therapy? Perhaps you are unsure or have questions. For more information on Physical Therapy and how it can benefit you, please contact your Functional Pathways Therapy Team! 

Hello Summer! Hello Warmer Temps! And HELLO HYDRATION!

Aside from the air we breathe, water is the most essential element to human survival. Approximately 60% of the human adult body is made up of water, and drinking water is more important than eating. In fact, a person can live about a month without food, but only 3-4 days without water. Moral of the story? Drink Up! 

With hotter temperatures, it is even more crucial to stay hydrated. When it’s hot outside, we are more likely to perspire and lose water through our sweat, putting us at a greater risk for dehydration. We know drinking water is important, but do you know the other ways you can help your body stay hydrated?

Additional Ways to Rehydrate:

Fruits and Vegetables – incorporating water-rich fruits and vegetables into your diet gives you an easy way to add more water content without drinking more fluids. 

• Cucumber – 96% water
• Celery – 95% water
• Tomatoes – 94% water
• Asparagus – 93% water
• Spinach – 91% water
• Cantaloupe, peaches, carrots, bananas – 75-90% water 

Coffee and Tea – While caffeine is a diuretic (something that increases urine production), you do retain most of the water from the beverage. In other words, you won’t lose more fluid through urine than you take in by drinking a caffeinated beverage.

Milk & Juice – There are several beverages that have just as high (if not higher) of a hydration index (how much of a drink is retained 2 hours after consumption) as water. Those include – Pedialyte, fat-free milk, whole milk, and orange juice. Some of these, like OJ, have a higher calorie count and sugar content, so drink cautiously. 

Smoothies – Many smoothies include water, juice, fruits and vegetables. If you add high-water content fruits and vegetables to your recipe, you can create a SUPER DRINK full of hydrating ingredients!!

If you are feeling thirsty, you’ve likely already lost 1% of your body’s total water content. So, drink up, buttercup! For more information on hydration, contact the Functional Pathways Therapy Team!

Do you remember The Jetsons? Set in 2062, you may remember The Jetsons as a futuristic show that played with ideas about the future for laughs. People lived in houses in the sky, worked a three-day workweek, and drove aerocars that looked like flying saucers. The most impressive part of the show was the incredible conveniences that left the Jetsons with plenty of leisure time. While we may not have aerocars that fly us around, we certainly have many technologies and devices to make our lives easier!

There are numerous assistive devices, such as walkers, canes, hearing aids, and glasses. Remember, this category includes anything designed to help in performing a specific function. There are infinite options out there – it really comes down to what you need a little help and support with. The most common categories of devices include: 

Mobility Devices – help you move from place to place with more independence. Examples: Rollators, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, scooters, canes, prosthetics

Daily Living Devices – help you complete activities of daily living. Examples: Adapted cutlery and cups, shower seats and stools, dressing sticks

Hearing Aids – help you hear or hear more clearly

Vision Devices – helps you see more clearly. Examples: Magnifiers, eye glasses, screen readers

Assistive technologies might include smart home assistants, medication reminders, and medical alert systems. These technologies can either be low-tech, such as phones with larger number buttons on them, or high-tech, like balance and fall prevention systems. In today’s world, you can simply ask AI to record your shopping list, set a reminder about taking your medication, or ask what day of the week it is. We have technology at our fingertips – much like the Jetsons did! Imagine where we will be in 2062!

What assistive devices do you use – and are they the most appropriate device(s) for you? Consider contacting the Therapy Team at Kirby Pines to learn more about what assistive technology and devices may be most beneficial for you! 

Human hearing may be picking up and processing all the sounds in our surroundings, even when we aren’t aware of it.“

It has been said that communication is the foundation of relationships. Without good hearing health, communication may be challenging. With May being Better Hearing and Speech Month, let’s dig into the importance of good hearing health, and what can be done to keep your ears functioning in tip top shape! 

Benefits of Healthy Hearing: 

• Ability to successfully communicate – eliminates the frustration of missing out on conversations or being isolated from social interactions 
• Can have a positive benefit on brain functioning and memory 
• Supports independence and security 

As with many things, there is a chance that your hearing health may decline over time. Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) gradually occurs as we grow older, and there is no research to suggest it can be prevented. Noise-induced hearing, however, can be preventable. There are certain things, like listening to music that is too loud, that can contribute to hearing loss. If the loss is substantial and goes untreated, it can result in a decreased quality of life. Untreated hearing loss has also been linked to sadness, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and poor social relationships. 

What are some of the common signs of hearing loss? 

• Repeatedly asking people to repeat what they say 
• Feeling like others are always mumbling or not speaking clearly 
• Difficulty hearing and understanding speech in noisy environments 
• Missing words or phrases on the telephone 
• Turning the volume up on the television or radio louder than normal 
• Tinnitus, ringing, or buzzing sounds 

It’s not too late to take the right steps to protect your hearing and reduce your risk for hearing loss. 

Tips to Keep Your Hearing Healthy: 

• Wear earplugs, protective earmuffs, or noise-canceling headphones around loud noises, such as live music or construction noise 
• Turn down the volume of the TV, radio, or music – remember, if you need to shout, the sound is too loud! 
• Have your hearing tested regularly 
• Take headphone breaks. When you use headphones, keep the volume down 
• Check medication side effects 

If you exhibit any of the symptoms mentioned above, or want to learn more about what you can do to help keep your hearing in tip top shape, please contact the Functional Pathways Therapy Team for guidance.