With the New Year, it’s time for an update of what we are doing at Active Living these days. We have a lot of exciting classes, programs and therapy plans to share.
LSVT BIG
LSVT BIG trains people with Parkinson disease (PD) to use their body more successfully, making actions more purposeful. People living with PD or other neurological conditions often move differently, with gestures and actions that become smaller and slower. They may have trouble getting around, getting dressed and with other activities of daily living. LSVT BIG effectively trains improved movements for any activity, whether they be “fine 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.
Neurological physiotherapy
Neurological physiotherapy continues to be one of our passions. It is very function-focused, which is awesome for helping people regain independence after a stroke, brain injury or when living with Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis. We break down your goals into achievable parts and work toward your overall goal in the end. Recent research has shown that adding in 20 minutes of aerobic exercise before your appointment can help you gain more during your functional therapy sessions. With our gym, we have many different kinds of cardiovascular equipment and therefore can easily add this 20 minutes of exercise before your appointments begin.
Classes
Many seniors and people with neurological disabilities or injuries find it difficult to get their heart rate up and actually exercise for fitness. We are aware of the need to exercise in order to decrease our risk of health issues like heart attack or stroke, as well as to protect the brain as we age. We change our classes in response to our current clientele in order to make small groups with like-abilities. Currently our classes are: Falls Prevention, Exercising with Parkinson’s, Neurological exercises, Exercise after Stroke, SCI Fitness, and Exercising after mild Traumatic Brain Injury. We plan to add a class for people with dementia in 2019 as well.
Frailty
Research is showing that we can counteract frailty with more intense exercises. We can assess, even very senior clients, for heart rate maximums and 1 repetition maximums and then plan to improve their function and independence. We will start with 1 on 1 physiotherapy sessions and then ideally move to a class environment to add a social component.
Gym
We offer free use of our gym for 3 months to our clients. You can come in any day of the week to do your exercises or your own gym routine.
The gym also allows caregivers to exercise while their loved one is at therapy. It’s a healthy option for something to do during their wait and often the only time they may have available to do it.
Golf
And then of course we have our Adaptive Golf League starting up again in the summer. This year will be our 7th for the Active Living Golf League, hosted by Keystone Links Golf course. It is aimed to help people get back into golfing after injury or disability took them away from the sport.
Other exciting stuff:
Vertigo/Dizziness
We remain passionate about combatting dizziness. Most of our therapists have taken several advanced courses, which ensure we are at the cutting edge of today’s research. Vertigo/dizziness can often be corrected within 1-2 sessions.
Physio for your Jaw
Christine is back from maternity leave and is assessing and treating people with jaw pain. This is another therapy that doesn’t require a lot of sessions to make a significant change. If you have pain or tenderness in your face, jaw joint or around your ear when you speak, chew or open your mouth wide, she can help!
Pilates
Emily is a certified pilates instructor and can work one on one with clients who need core strengthening and back support.
In Closing:
We will continue to have monthly meetings to discuss our programs, share experiences for best practice with our clients, and to make future programs.
Let us know if you have an idea. We have a great group of passionate (and a little crazy) people who love bringing out new programs.
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