Brain-based Training with Parkinson's Disease

After my Fall Prevention 101 and Parkinson's Disease presentation at the Parkinson's Disease support group in Lincoln Hills, I started working with several people for private sessions in their home in the Lincoln Hills neighborhood.  Ironically, I just started in-home brain-based balance and fall prevention training with another woman who is living w/Parkinson's .  I'm visiting her in her Carmichael home for private sessions.

That's three new clients living with Parkinson's within one week: talk about a sign that I'm supposed to work with Parkinson's Disease right now!  Praise God!

Although these people share the same diagnosis, each person is totally unique.  Every brain is different.  Although there are some similarities in my approach to activating their nervous systems, their training programs are different.  Through systematic testing and retesting, I determine which areas of the brain need more activation and which areas might need inhibition.

Discovering these key pieces of information about the brain is a process and critical for precise results.  All this is done through sensory tests that activate the cranial nerves, and peripheral nerves.   Different inputs, different results.  The direction of head turns and eye movements are unique to each brain but once we find the "high payoff" drills, it's magic!

Movement is Life.  It's time to start LIVING

Results are measured by one of several fitness indictators.  Everything is personalized.
Living with Parkinson's is a lifelong challenge.  Thanks to neuroscience research and recent discoveries, there are simple ways to activate areas of the brain affected by Parkinson's.  The more you activate these areas, the better you feel.

Neuro-training will not cure you of Parkinson's but it can significantly improve the quality of your life while living with it.  The brain loves sensory input and there are fun ways to activate dopamine production naturally.  Ways to stimulate the basal ganglia for better movement.  Ways to activate the cerebellum to reduce tremors.

If you don't use it, you lose it.  Work with me and I will show you how to activate areas of the brainstem, frontal lobe, cortex and cerebellum for better balance, accuracy and coordination.  One session will not eliminate your problems but will get us on the right track.

Think one week of brain-based training for every month you have had Parkinson's.  Holistic, brain activation drills to immediately improve balance, vision, movement and pain.  You're worth it.

Sign up for your personalized brain-activation program for better balance, movement and vision.  Less pain, too.

Schedule your 90-minute consult today.  In-home or Video-Conference.  $150.
info@thefallpreventionlady.com

Train the Brain to Reduce Pain

Are you in so much pain that you feel like you can't go on?  Are you in so much pain that you want to crawl up into a ball and not move?  Is your comfort zone lying on your back with feet elevated?  Does the thought of going on like this another day bring you to tears?  Do you know that there's more to life than the pain you're going through?  Do you know you're too young to feel this way???

My new client answered yes to all of the above questions.  A botched back surgery left her with shooting pain beneath her shoulder blades; it hurt to raise her arms, it hurt to bend forward, it hurt to sit in a chair, it hurt to walk.  Everything hurt.

To top it off, she has emphysema so breathing even hurt.   When I got there her pain level was a 10 out of 10; actually a 15 out of 10 but you get my point.

I could see the pain on her face when I got to her home.  We sat at the kitchen table and I started with the 90-minute assessment.  During this time, I ask a lot of questions and test a lot of different things.  This is a great time to get to know each other and for me to learn what happened before what happened happened.  How did she get in so much pain.

Pain is an output from the brain.  Don't get me wrong; pain is pain and it hurts.  It's valid.  It's real.  But pain is a protective output from the brain to get you to stop doing what you're doing.   Your brain is overwhelmed and something needs to stop.  Pain is the quickest way to get you to stop doing something.

Pain is an output from the brain.  Train the brain to reduce pain.

However it's up to you to change and/or address what's causing the pain.  In my new client's case, her brain wasn't getting enough fuel and her eye muscles needed to be activated.  She also needed to start moving her nerves.  Her nervous system needed a major tune-up!!!  WHAT?

Once we did some breathing drills and vision training drills, there was a smile of relief.  When we did some nerve glides and got the nerves moving, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.  She told me that I was her last option; it was either work with me or get back surgery!  I embrace that challenge and left her with some drills to do for homework.

Before I left, I asked her to rate her pain on a scale from 1-10 again.  She smiled and said "5/10".  Yay!!!  My job was complete.

When I returned THE NEXT DAY to review the homework drills with her, a different woman answered the door!  The same client, but she wasn't in nearly as much pain.  She was smiling, she walked lighter and her entire demeanor was different.

When we sat down to go through the homework drills, she told me she was so excited last night that she couldn't sleep!  She felt different and knew this was going to work.  Now I was excited.  I love using brain-based fitness training to help people get out of pain, improve balance, see better and move better.

Once your brain gets the activation it needs, your entire mood will change.  Not in a voodoo/weird way but in the best way possible.  You realize there is hope at the end of tunnel.  There is more to life than living in pain.  You learn how to move your body so it doesn't hurt.  You learn how to breathe so your brain gets the oxygen it needs to function.

I am so excited about working with her and seeing her transform before my very eyes.  I'll take pictures so you can see the improvements along the way.

And hey, if you're like my client and want to get out of pain so you can start living the life you were meant to live, contact me.  Set up a consult.  
Click here to make an appointment:  
I want to get out of pain and live my life!

Never TOO old to IMPROVE Balance, Posture and Movement: 92-year old with Scoliosis, Kyphosis, and slight Dementia

Several weeks ago, a 65 year-old man contacted me about working with his 92 year-old father.  He told me he wanted his father to get strong and stay out of the nursing home for as long as possible.  One of his main concerns was his father being able to get up from the floor.  He also stated that he wanted his father to continue with the training schedule of three times a week that he was currently doing with the physical therapist.

He was switching from a well-known Physical Therapist to my services because insurance no longer covered his father's treatment since there wasn't anything physically wrong with him.  This was fantastic news to me because the work I do is equally as good yet much more affordable for out of pocket training.  As I began to explain the neural input training I do, he stopped me; he had heard of me and knew his father was going to be in good hands.

Brain-based Training Results In Better Movement and Posture

When "Frank" came to his first session, he was stooped over and relied heavily on his walker for mobility.  I started with senior fitness tests and then did a thorough neuro-assessment; testing his vision, vestibular and peripheral nerve function. As a Z-Health Neuro-Performance Coach, I am constantly assessing and reassessing to discover what type of input training works for him.

All this sensory input stuff was new but Frank went along with everything and would smile when there was a big difference in his reassessment; nothing compared to his smile after he reached down to touch his toes after sharp/dull sensory input testing! When we started, he was 6 inches from touching his toes. After several sensory input tests, he was touching his toes and smiling ear to ear.

Frank is Latino, 92-years old and he has slight dementia so there's obviously some communication challenges but he's a go-getter and does what I ask after some explanation.  Not surprisingly, he struggled with the cerebellum drills but the pay-off was outstanding; he stood up without using his walker and this time, he was beaming smiled ear to ear and said, "Yes!".   That was session #1.

Nine sessions later, Frank is standing taller, getting up powerfully, moving easier and walking more balanced.  We've practiced getting up from the floor; the first time Frank cussed me but the second time was much better.  Now he's practicing kneeling exercises so being on the ground isn't as threatening to his brain or his body.  

Before session #5 at his home, Frank's caregiver told me he fell last night. Before I could say "uh-oh", she told me his son said that by the time he could get to the room, Frank was up and sitting on the bed as if nothing happened!  She said "I don't know what you're doing but it's working!".  

I am so proud of Frank and the huge strides he's making in our training sessions. Through ongoing sensorimotor testing, I've identified what areas of Frank's brain need more activation than others and I  consistently training the neural inputs (vision, vestibular and peripheral nerves) for improved motor output.   

The results are phenomenal; his stooped posture is standing more upright, his right-side scoliosis is becoming less evident and he's stronger and more stable.  This man is 92-years young and he's thriving with neural activation.  It's never too late and you're never too old to improve your balance, strength, posture and coordination.