Parkinson's Programs

Advances in understanding Parkinson’s disease, coupled with advances in medical interventions and rehabilitation techniques, offer new hope for our patients. Parkinson’s and related disorders are complex diseases that affect each individual differently. Our customized treatments address every aspect of the disease, including medications, psychological and behavioral aspectsaspect counseling, and movement, self-care, and speech skills.

We customize our treatments based on each patient’s medical and rehabilitation needs, goals, and circumstances. We emphasize education of the patient and family to increase their understanding of the disease and determine the level of assistance necessary to support the patient's maximum independence.

Program components may include:

• Comprehensive evaluation of the patient’s medical, functional, and behavioral status
• Medical consultation with neurologist or other specialists as needed
• Individual and group therapies focused on neuro-rehabilitation
• Nutrition counseling and support
• Advanced rehabilitation technologies, including assistive technologies, body-weight support systems, and electrical stimulation devices
• Lee Silverman Voice Treatment
• Therapeutic recreation, including adaptive sports programs
• Brace and wheelchair clinics
• Education in fall prevention

At the Spaulding Network, patients and their family members become members of a team of knowledgeable, dedicated rehabilitation experts.

Team members may include physicians who specialize in neurology and/or rehabilitation medicine, nurse, pharmacist, nutritionist, case manager, therapeutic recreation specialist, psychologist, social worker, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language pathologists. Additional specialists may join the team as needed. Our patients have access to some of the best therapists in the field.

Directed by David M. Lowell, MD, Medical Director, the Parkinson’s Center for Comprehensive Care at Spaulding Cape Cod provides patients with a full spectrum of on-site services to treat their unique needs.

Spaulding Rehabilitation Network is dedicated to researching new treatments in the field of Parkinson's Disease rehabilitation. Spaulding researchers, including physicians and other clinicians, are working on several research studies and clinical trials.


Research Program:
Motor Fluctuation Study

Description:
The main goal of this project is to use our wireless wearable sensor system (consisting of accelerometers and gyroscopes) to monitor motor fluctuations in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The focus is on patients with late-stage PD with levodopa-related movement disorders and motor fluctuations characterized by ON and OFF periods. Using data mining techniques we analyze data collected using wearable sensors and develop algorithms to predict clinical scores


Research Program:
A Wearable Sensor Platform for the Long-Term Monitoring of Parkinson’s Patients

Description:
Our team is working on the development of a wearable sensor system for long-term remote monitoring of patients with Parkinson’s disease. The system provides clinicians with a means to interact remotely with patients in the home setting, to configure the sensor nodes for the application at hand, and to record annotated data. In addition, we are developing data analysis techniques to extract UPDRS clinical scores from data recorded using wearable sensors. These techniques will allow tracking of longitudinal changes in motor symptoms in PD patients allowing clinicians to provide more fine tuned therapeutic interventions and improve patient’s quality of life.


Research Program:
Evaluation of Parkinson’s Motor Symptoms by Means of Speech Analysis

Description:
In this study we aim to track rigidity characteristics in patients affected by Parkinson’s disease by means of analysis of distinctive speech features. We hypothesize that features extracted from particular speech tasks of PD patients can be used for the estimation and prediction of the UPDRS score (with particular attention given to rigidity related items) of the patients in a machine learning framework. Moreover an estimation of the rigidity of the upper limb will be obtained by inducing elbow flexion-extension movements in patients using an Isokinetic device (Biodex System).

Parkinson’s Disease Programs are offered at these Spaulding locations:

Inpatient
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod

Outpatient
Spaulding Outpatient Center Framingham
Spaulding Outpatient Center Sandwich

The following services are related to the Parkinson’s Disease Program at Spaulding:

Audiology
Counseling with a health psychologist or social worker for individual and/or caregiver/family members
Lee Silverman Voice Treatment
Vision Rehabilitation
Physical Therapy
Occupational Therapy
Speech Language Pathology
Driving Assessment Program
Swallowing evaluations (Modified barium swallow with video fluoroscopy)