Wednesday, August 21, 2019

PANC Parkinson's Train-the-Trainer Workshop in Lodi

Last weekend, PANC (Parkinson's Association of Northern California) held a train-the-trainer workshop in Lodi, CA for health and fitness professionals who work with people living with Parkinson's Disease.  The room was filled with personal trainers, yogis, massage and physical therapists who work with those living with the neurodegenerative disease.

"It takes a village to raise a child but it takes an army to treat Parkinson's", quoted Dr. Suketu Khandhar, the lead Neurologist in charge of Kaiser's Movement Disorder Program.  He designed this workshop so the hospital-based PTs can offer their patients a more "person-centered", continuous spectrum of services while establishing reliable resources in the community to refer their patients.

Dr. Sarah P....,  the neuro-physical therapist from Kaiser lead an amazing workshop.  Unbeknownst to me, this was the exact same workshop as last year and that was fine with me because I learned several 'golden nuggets' to improve my services.   The stop, sniff, shift technique of dealing with freezing epsisodes were clarified and I learned a LIFE-SAVING technique to prevent backward falls.

As a Z-Health brain exercise therapist who activates the cranial nerves, cortices, cerebellum, vestibular and vision systems not to mention motor control, I am always learning how to better treat my clients with Parkinson's.   There is so much information available on the internet so it's good to get hands-on experience and talk with leaders in the field of neurodegenerative movement disorders.

Great experience and I will continue to attend for breaking neuroscience training techniques to help people improve balance while living with a progressive neurodegenerative disease.

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