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Dystonia PT Program

Our Dystonia PT program is very individualized with a high focus on your specific goals, uncovering your strengths and resources, and building on those to build brain, body connection, and restore your function. 

 

Our primary focus is to help you regain mobility and return to active life while living with Dystonia. Below is a summary of our program and recommendations as we get started on this journey with you. 

 

We work very closely with your physician and multidisciplinary care team to effectively collaborate and integrate recommendations from your care team.

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Goals: 

  • Return to activities you love. 

  • Support in reducing involuntary movements

  • Decrease over-excitation of the nervous system

  • Enhance accuracy of sensory discrimination

  • Improve voluntary control

  • Restore task-specific performance

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Our Approach:

Our approach is based on Learning-based Sensorimotor Training (Adapted from Byl, Archer, McKenzie, 2008). You must show full commitment to actively participating and willingness to do repetitive training both at home and work. These are three distinctive components of the program: 

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Neuroplasticity optimization: Prepare the brain

  • Think Positively about recovery: approach retraining with a positive expectation for improvement.

  • Quiet the nervous system: mindfulness, decrease stress, increase sleep and healthy exercise and eating.

  • Imagine normal movements: imagine or use mental imagery of performing the task normally. Recapture the joy of performing the movement.

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Reconnection: Re-train the brain

  • Improve sensory discrimination skills and proprioception.

  • Develop positive reinforcement strategies.

  • Normalize muscle contractions in the task.

  • Practice grading movements: Simple tasks to more challenging tasks.

  • Practice at non-target task: task that is similar to target task; fine movements without co-contraction; modify posture; change the position of the body relative to gravity.

  • Practice at target task and practice with variability.

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Treat Underlying Factors

  • Biomechanics including posture

  • Strength

  • Flexibility

  • Nerve mobility

  • Balance

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