Fastening New Skills with the Interactive Metronome - George’s Story.

George is a 78-year-old man, receiving Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to address functional movement problems as a result of his moderate to severe Parkinson’s disease. 

As an OT new to the IM program I was interested to see whether the program would help to alleviate the tremor in both of his hands as he tried in vain to manage his fasteners, buttons and zippers when dressing.  I knew from experience that helping clients in this area with traditional therapy techniques (repetition/adaptation/compensation) was often arduous, frustrating and time-consuming.

Undaunted, I looked to the fact that the IM program had helped with many of my clients who had motor problems and set out enthusiastically to help George to “fine tune” his fine motor skills.

Seniors take to metronome to add stability to gait, even to golf game

A senior community is taking advantage of IM by incorporating it to different therapy sessions for its residents. Read how Marjorie Treadwell refuses to succumb to a fate that has disabled many of her friends and neighbors.

Independent again with the help of IM: Paul’s Story

Independence is one of the most important outcomes a Parkinson’s patient is concerned with when degeneration starts to occur. So when Paul fell and couldn’t walk on his own or manage daily tasks, he felt like his life was over...especially when he was admitted to inpatient rehab. His OT introduced IM into his therapy plan and after only 6 sessions Paul was discharged from inpatient therapy but still had to use a rolling walker. Paul continued to do IM in outpatient therapy and that’s when the gains really started to show. At discharge, Paul was able to perform multiple repetitive sit-to-stand transitions without physical assistance, retrieve items from overhead and the floor independently, perform floor transfers independently, transport small items while walking, and resume working in the carpentry shop. Because he had regained control over his standing balance for short periods of time, Paul was able to resume performance of grooming tasks while standing and to sing an entire hymn at church without holding on to the pew. The read Paul’s full story below.