Have you or a loved one recently suffered from a stroke, acquired brain injury, or other neurological condition?
Were you diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or ALS?
If so, your first thought may be to visit your primary care physician. However, seeing a physical therapist can play a key role in managing your condition as well.
Here at Capitol Physical Therapy, our team has received special training in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions.
Read on to find out how physical therapy can help with neurological conditions.
What Is A Neurological Condition?
A neurological condition is a condition that affects your brain, as well as the nerves that run through your body and your spinal cord. They can stem from structural, electrical, or biochemical abnormalities.
Neurological conditions can involve a wide variety of different symptoms, including paralysis, balance issues, seizures, confusion, chronic pain, muscle weakness, loss of coordination, and cognitive impairment.
Each neurological condition has its own symptoms and possible treatments. Read on below to find out how physical therapy can help with your or your loved one’s neurological condition.
Physical Therapy Treatments For Stroke
Your brain, like every other organ in your body, needs the oxygen delivered by your blood to work properly.
If the supply of blood to your brain is cut off or overflows out of its vessel, you’ll experience a stroke. Without oxygen, your brain cells begin to die within minutes – the extent of your symptoms will vary depending on how long until you receive emergency treatment.
After having a stroke, you may experience any of the following issues:
Difficulty walking
Difficulty moving in bed
Difficulty with coordination
Difficulty speaking
Difficulty with language or memory
Difficulty forming thoughts
Difficulty controlling bladder or bowels
Difficulty seeing, hearing, or feeling
Difficulty swallowing
Physical therapy can help you relearn some of these motor skills.
By retraining the healthy parts of your brain to control the areas that affect you, you can increase your independence and quality of life.
To find out more about how physical therapy can help with stroke recovery, book your appointment today.
Physical Therapy Treatments For Acquired Brain Injury
There are a number of different ways to experience brain injury. Some of them are the result of a congenital condition, or a degenerative disease.
However, an acquired brain injury is an injury one acquires in a specific event, as the name suggests.
This can include:
A traumatic event, like a car accident or sports injury
A medical problem, like a tumor, aneurysm, or stroke
Like a stroke, these events can have a wide variety of different symptoms associated with them, including:
Memory loss
Headaches
Seizures
Depression
Mania
Physical disabilities
Personality changes
Memory loss
Cognitive impairment
Speech issues
These issues are a result of damage to the part of your brain that controls these activities.
While it may be incredibly frustrating to deal with these new limitations, there is hope. Through physical therapy, you can retrain the undamaged parts of your brain to pick up the slack, improving your quality of life.
Book your appointment with Capitol Physical Therapy today to find out how.
Physical Therapy Treatments For Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder where the nerve cells in the part of your brain that normally controls movement are lost.
It’s most common among men and people older than 60, but about 10% of cases are early-onset and affect people younger than 50.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include:
- Trembling in arms, legs, head, or jaw
- Stiff limbs
- Difficulty balancing
- Frequent falls
- Impaired movement
- Depression
- Urinary incontinence
- Difficulty speaking
- Difficulty chewing or swallowing
In order to stay healthy during Parkinson’s disease, it’s important to stay active and mobile.
The goal of physical therapy treatments for Parkinson’s disease is to keep you moving for as long as possible. This can slow the onset of your disease, and help you enjoy a happier, more fulfilled life, for longer.
To find out more, contact us at Capitol Physical Therapy today.
Physical Therapy Treatments For ALS
ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It’s commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, since he was one of the first high profile cases to contract it.
Modern readers might be able to better recognize it as the disease that affected physicist Stephen Hawking for most of his adult life.
There is a lot we don’t know about this disease.
Symptoms can vary widely, but often include:
Clumsiness, difficulty balancing
Weakness in hands
Slurred speech
Difficulty swallowing
Muscle twitching
Crying, laughing, or yawning at inopportune moments
Difficulty walking
Difficulty with daily activities
Cognitive and behavioral effects
Generally, chronic pain is not one of the symptoms of ALS.
At the time of this writing, there is no known cure for ALS. However, physical therapy can help to slow its onset. Through physical therapy, you may be able to continue walking, staying mobile, and performing your daily tasks for longer than otherwise.
Your physical therapist can also fit you with a brace or other mobility aids, and help you adjust to their use.
If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with ALS, it can be a frightening and overwhelming time.
Your physical therapist at Capitol Physical Therapy will work with you to keep you as healthy and independent as possible. Contact us today to find out how.
Physical Therapy Treatments For Other Neurological Disorders
There are a number of other neurological disorders for which physical therapy can provide treatment.
While physical therapy cannot cure you of any of these disorders, it can help you improve your quality of life and may help to slow the onset of symptoms.
These disorders include, but are not limited to:
- Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)
- Huntington’s disease
- Peripheral polyneuropathy
- Ataxia
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Bell’s palsy
- Multiple sclerosis
- Muscular dystrophy
Book Your Appointment With Capitol Physical Therapy Today
A neurological disorder can be a frightening and overwhelming diagnosis, but there is hope.
Your physical therapist from Capitol Physical Therapy will work with you to keep you as strong and healthy as your disorder will allow.
With the help of physical therapy, many of those afflicted with one of the above disorders can still live full, fulfilling lives.
Call us at Capitol Physical Therapy today to book your appointment.