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RMT, Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease

1/19/2012

3 Comments

 
The following story was provided to me to post by Ruth Murray. She is an RMT 1 and 2 instructor as well as a Brain Gym 101 instructor. Please visit her website for more details! Thanks for your contribution Ruth and what an Awesome story!
 
"Mary" is a 79 year old lady with two newly-diagnosed conditions: Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.  I saw Mary and her daughter in order to engage Mary in RMT movements on three consecutive days while she visited my town. Her daughter noted that she planned to teach her family how to engage her mother in the RMT movements in order to help her. The family's central concern was their mom's decrease in mental awareness and acuity: she napped much of the day, then retiring for the night at 7:30.  When Mary initially came to see me, her daughter hovered at her elbow as they came up the sidewalk and stairs, as Mary's walk could be considered a shuffle, and was asymmetrical enough that she looked as though she'd fall at any moment.
She was cheerful but vague in conversation.

For the three days, I worked a half-hour with Mary, doing the exercises, and a half-hour with Mary's daughter, doing the exercises on her, and having her practice on her mother. The second day, her daughter announced with great joy: her mom had not only taken NO naps the previous day, but also had stayed awake until 9:30 that night. I was pleased to see that the stimulation to the brain had provided Mary with better mental functioning.

But my real pay-off came at the end of the next day: I realized that something had “clicked in” during those three days. 

"Mary," I asked, "would you please walk down the sidewalk?" And walk Mary did; alone, upright and symmetrically. She didn't shuffle; there was at least two inches between the toe of one foot and the heel of another. Three months later, Mary is still doing well. She walks 3/4 of a mile at a time these days.
3 Comments
Sarah Hargreaves
3/18/2012 05:46:17 am

This sounds great does it work on someone who has had dementia for a while and seems to have lost balance onone side?

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Heidi McLarty
3/18/2012 11:47:41 am

Hi Sarah. I would suspect that yes the RMT would help this individual. Often times we see that the reflexes come back on in old age. Which is likely why older people's balance starts to deteriorate along with coordination, etc. The great thing about RMT is that the movements aim to stimulate new connections to be made in the brain in various areas, which is why it can lead to increased alertness, etc. in those who were previously sluggish and not so in tune with the world anymore.

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Acupuncture Integrative Natural Care link
10/14/2012 05:15:16 pm

I am sure that the information you shared is useful. This is also very insightful. Thanks

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    Heidi McLarty is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist with a passion for remedial treatment activities which provide the most bang for your buck! In other words, they are very effective, simple to implement and teach others, AND best of all, they don't cost a small fortune! Not quite free, but pretty near because of the applicability of this work with a whole bunch of different individuals, with different conditions! The main link here is that we are dealing with the brain and nervous system, which we now know is plastic. That's a very exciting and valuable bit of info that we NEED to take advantage of. 

    Heidi plans to continue to create lots of "ripples" in the therapy world! Reflex integration is one of the most valuable tools she hopes many more will add to their toolboxes in the near future!
    *Please note: Heidi has obtained client's verbal consent to post the case study stories she has posted here. Names have been changed to protect client confidentiality.

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