Premier Therapy can help Parkinson’s patients!
We have therapists that are specialized and trained in the LSVT “BIG” technique.
LSVT BIG trains people with Parkinson disease (PD) to use their body more normally.
People living with PD or other neurological conditions often move differently, with gestures and actions that become smaller and slower. They may have trouble with getting around, getting dressed and with other activities of daily living. LSVT BIG effectively trains improved movements for any activity, whether “small motor” tasks like buttoning a shirt or “large motor” tasks like getting up from sofa or chair or maintaining balance while walking. The treatment improves walking, self-care and other tasks by helping people “recalibrate” how they perceive their movements with what others actually see. It also teaches them how and when to apply extra effort to produce bigger motions – more like the movements of everyone around them.
Because LSVT BIG treatment is customized to each person’s specific needs and goals, it can help regardless of the stage or severity of your condition.
That said, the treatment may be most effective in early or middle stages of your condition, when you can both improve function and potentially slow further symptom progression. Beginning your work with LSVT BIG before you’ve noticed significant problems with balance, mobility or posture will often lead to the best results, but it’s never too late to start. LSVT BIG can produce significant improvements even for people facing considerable physical difficulties.
Outcomes Backed by Research Evidence
LSVT treatments are unique because the principles of LSVT are supported by research and the LSVT protocols have been scientifically studied over the past 25 years.
This research began in 1987 when Dr. Lorraine Ramig met Mrs. Lee Silverman (pictured right) and her family. “If only we could hear and understand her” was the expressed wish of Mrs. Silverman’s husband and her adult children. This motivated Dr. Ramig’s life-long work to develop an effective speech treatment for people with PD, scientifically document its effectiveness, and implement the treatment into real-word clinical practice. This speech treatment protocol, Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD), was later expanded to a physical or occupational therapy program called LSVT BIG.
The research on LSVT BIG is newer and less extensive than that on LSVT LOUD, but published results of a randomized, controlled trial (Ebersbach et al., 2010) document that LSVT BIG resulted in improvements in the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (the “gold-standard” scale which doctors use to measure the progression of PD) as well as other tests of motor functioning in people with PD. In contrast, other treatments examined in the study (Nordic walking and home exercises) did not.
Because of this research and the standardization of the treatments, positive outcomes of LSVT have been replicated around the globe when the therapy is delivered the same way as in the research studies. This reliable consistency provides people with Parkinson’s increased confidence that they may achieve the outcomes they want and expect!
