Physiotherapy is a key part of managing many symptoms of Parkinson’s. Your physiotherapist will form part of your Parkinson’s support network, alongside other healthcare professionals, to help keep you moving and living a normal daily life as much as possible.
At your first physiotherapy appointment, your physio will assess your difficulties, mobility and look at the different ways Parkinson’s affects your daily life. Then, with your input, they will set individual goals and create a tailored treatment plan to help you reach them. Meeting with a physio may be completely new to you, and with so much to cover during your appointment, it can be a lot to take in.
Physiotherapist (and President of Parkinson’s Europe) Josefa Domingos – who has spent decades specialising in physiotherapy for Parkinson’s – has approved the following advice.
Here’s our guide on how to get the most out of your Parkinson’s physiotherapy appointment.
What to do before your appointment
- Write a list of your top five problems you experience related to your Parkinson’s. Think about when it started, if it improves with Parkinson’s meds, what makes it worse and what makes it better.
- Make a list in advance of any questions you’d like to ask your physio. Leave space next to each one so you’re able to write notes during your appointment
- The Pre-assessment Information Form (PIF) within the European Physiotherapy Guideline for Parkinson’s Disease is a great source to help you to prepare.
During your physiotherapy appointment
- Be prepared to explain your key problems and how they affect your daily life. It’s useful to think in advance how to describe difficulties – it’s easy to get tongue-tied when under pressure during an appointment.
- Be accurate. Your physiotherapist can only act on the information you provide, so be as accurate and transparent as possible and let them know how you really feel and deal with Parkinson’s
- If you don’t fully understand something, ask the physiotherapist to explain again and make some notes for you. Your physio will appreciate it’s a lot of information for you to absorb and will be happy to go through things thoroughly with you and help organise any notes. It’s important you go away from the appointment feeling fully informed.
- Consider taking a friend or carer with you who can help take notes or prompt you on questions to raise if you find it difficult. Make sure they understand what you want to say – show them your list of questions before the appointment – so that they can help to explain things if necessary.
- Be clear what you hope to gain from your appointment and treatment plan.
- Let your physiotherapist know if you have had any treatment before or tried different methods to overcome these problems and explain how effective these were.
- If your physiotherapist is unable to help with a particular problem, he or she will be able to suggest other healthcare professionals who may be able to help.
Before you leave your appointment
- Jointly agree on your goals of treatment, in particular what you could achieve and when.
- Agree on a treatment plan with your physio that is tailored to your daily routine and abilities.
- Agree on the best way to keep in touch going forward. You may like to book a follow-up appointment before you leave, to make sure you’re doing exercises properly. Always get in touch between these scheduled appointments if you have any queries.
- Plan in advance how you will maintain an exercise regime independently once your treatment has finished.
- Agree on what information your physiotherapist will share with your doctor.
Discover more information and advice about Parkinson’s and physiotherapy.
