28: What You Should Know About Freezing of Gait in PD to Help Your Patients the MOST

Anti-racist action - Overcoming Bias book by Tiffany Jana and Matthew Freeman.  3 hr 22 min on audible.  Talks about how we all have biases that get in the way of our good intentions.  There are “call outs” throughout that help you identify and work through a possible issue.  They discuss bias, privilege, and strategies to help overcome bias in order to build stronger relationships.  Tiffany Jana also has a popular TED talk called “The Power of Privilege” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0acvkHIiZs

Freezing of Gait (FOG) is one of the most challenging symptoms of Parkinson’s disease for many therapists to treat.  Why is it so challenging?  Because it is so multifaceted!  There is a TON of evidence on it, yet it is still so challenging to treat.  Some of the contributions to FOG determined by the literature are both cognitive, emotional, and physical.  There are even different types of “freezers” where a person’s cause of freezing can be for different reasons.  Ehgoetz Martens, et al in 2018 identified these subtypes of freezers.  

They called them: Asymmetric motor, Anxious, and Sensory-Attention based on the factors they found by how people responded to questionnaires or performed on physical tests with walking/movement.

We’re going to break down the most important things to focus on with your assessment when working with someone who freezes so you can target their treatment in the most effective way from the start!  We’ll also introduce the most important factors in beginning treatment for FOG.

Article references: 

“Evidence for Subtypes of Freezing of Gait in Parkinson’s Disease” Ehgoetz Martens, KA, et al. Movement Disorders.  Vol 33, No. 7. 2018.

Freezing of gait Assessment article

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20310009/

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