Shared from parkinson.org.
A serious misconception about Parkinson’s disease (PD) is that rehabilitative care should only come into play in the later stages of the disease. In fact, rehabilitation can play a crucial role in managing and improving PD symptoms, function, and quality of life and reducing disability from day one.
In January 2024, the Parkinson’s Foundation published a paper on the importance of delivering rehabilitation care in Parkinson’s in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. This paper was written by the Parkinson’s Foundation Global Rehabilitation Medicine Task Force, which was formed to help healthcare professionals incorporate rehabilitation into PD care.
“Our goal is to raise awareness of the importance of rehabilitation care in PD. We want to motivate people living with Parkinson’s to advocate for their best care, and that means knowing that they can start rehabilitative care at any point in their disease. We also want to motivate professionals to include evidence-based rehabilitation interventions when providing care to every person with Parkinson’s,” said Jennifer Goldman, MD, MS co-chair of the Parkinson’s Foundation Rehabilitation Medicine Task Force.