Image of doctor crossing their arms by Unsplash.

Foreword:

Getting a Parkinson’s diagnosis is a tough pill to swallow.

For a lot of people, taking the step to do the next right thing with your health care may feel incredibly overwhelming.

If there’s one thing I know for certain, working with an occupational therapist is going to significantly impact your quality of life while living with Parkinson’s.

Occupational therapists help you with the ‘ings’ in life, like bathing, dressing, toileting, cleaning, playing, etc. We help you do the things you need and want to do at home.

And without a doubt, you want to live in the comfort and safety of home no matter what happens in life!

Below, my colleague, Dr. Richard Dressel, OTD, OT/L, LSVT-BIG, wrote an article on how occupational therapists help people with Parkinson’s continue to do things at home that are meaningful to them.

Occupational Therapy and Parkinson’s Disease

Occupational Therapy (OT) has significant implications for Parkinson's Disease. Parkinson’s Disease presents a risk for loss of independence and disability. Parkinson’s Disease also negatively impacts mental health resulting in anxiety and depression.

As a result, the primary goal of OT is to improve an individual's independence during their daily tasks and to enhance function in an individual's daily roles and routines.

OT is focused on providing holistic and client-centered care to help the person as a “whole.” OT, as a discipline, centers on the doing “with” our clients rather than the doing “for” our clients.

Enabling our clients to learn behaviors and strategies that promote function is a critical outcome. OT seeks to teach our clients the lifelong skills to “live their life to the fullest” through restorative, adaptive, and compensatory methods.

Whether it is performing their own activities of daily living (ADLs) or safely walking within their home, OT is driven by what is important to the client, not what is important to the therapist.

Image of colorful hands clasped by Unsplash.

Client Goals

Developing and identifying clear and concrete client goals are paramount to successful results.

For example, a client may identify laundry and housekeeping as important tasks to their identity in caring for their home; the client may express that these two tasks are becoming increasingly more difficult but they take great pride in these tasks so staying active to safely complete them will drive the collaboration among OT and client.

Our clients' investment in their personal goals helps structure the weekly therapy and serves to reinforce the reason behind all their hard work.

Specifically, home care OT equips individuals with Parkinson's Disease to age in place through a variety of functional interventions and therapeutic exercises. Due to COVID-19, individuals are spending more time at home and less time in the community.

OT Helps You Live at Home

It has been my experience in home care that the home is where everybody wants to be and most clients perform their best “work” in the home.

Home is where people can be their true, authentic self no matter what they are experiencing. The walls of one’s home can be a sanctuary to make mistakes.

The home is safe, familiar, and comfortable. Anxiety is low and motivation is high. One’s home can reinforce a sense of mastery and self-efficacy as clients fight back against their disease.

Using a client’s home as the medium for change plays an important physical and psychological role. It integrates the benefits of functional exercise and engagement in activities all under one roof.

Exercise

Extensive research demonstrates intensive doses of exercise can have a profound positive impact on Parkinson's Disease. Studies show exercise can delay the progression of the disease and can lessen the severity of the symptoms.

Ultimately, the goal is promoting independence.

I refer to exercise as a dose because exercise is a physical pill; it is medication in motion. The best exercise is a form of exercise someone enjoys. Taking this a step further, exercise that is challenging and objective helps promote continued motivation.

OTs use the “just right challenge” with our clients to grade an exercise or activity so it is not too difficult but it feels achievable.

For individuals with Parkinson's Disease, exercise is a lifelong endeavor and the use of functional exercise can be disease-modifying and transformative. The truth is exercise comes in many forms and it can literally be done anywhere at any time.

In my experience, using daily functional tasks as a medium for exercise meshes well with the overarching goal of independence.

You can upgrade or downgrade the intensity and duration of a task by adding or subtracting parts of a task.

For example, eating all three meals at the same table rather than being served in another room; ambulating to and from the mailbox to retrieve mail; performing vacuuming on specific days in specific rooms are specific and objective.

Technology

Technology in one’s home is also readily available.

Using an Apple watch to monitor arm swing can be useful to encourage big upper body movements. Utilizing a pedometer to track and record the amount of steps in any given day. Playing music on Alexa for dancing can stimulate high-quality movements.

Highlighting one’s independence in any given task in their home is vital.

Mindset

Image of living room with couch, coffee table, batwing chair, and plants by Unsplash.

I have found some past clients would structure their life around their Parkinson's Disease and not the other way around. Losing one’s independence to the progressive nature of Parkinson's Disease can be devastating and demoralizing.

With home OT in one’s natural and familiar environment, clients can slow the loss of independence and engage in tasks that are personally meaningful and valued to them through functionally-based exercise.

Shifting client’s mindsets to one of taking back power and control over Parkinson's Disease can be incredibly empowering to one’s quality of life.

Afterword:

If you or someone you know has Parkinson’s, consider hiring an occupational therapist to help you take back your life! Share this blog post with friends and family to help them get started.

Here are some quick resources for you:

Questions for Dr. Richard Dressel? Contact him at Richard.dressel3@gmail.com.

What resources do you have to add? Please share what works for you in managing your life with Parkinson’s disease below in the comments!

(Pssssttttt . . . did you know we have an awesome online course for people who have a hard time wiping after using the toilet? It’s an awkward topic that you can learn how to solve in the comfort and privacy of your own home! Learn more about the course HERE!)

Parkinson's Disease and Living at Home