At heart, Richard Slack is a hard worker.
Over eight years of physical therapy to help manage his Parkinson’s, Slack has made it a point to push himself in each session. Despite the progression of the disease, he’s eagerly worked to build up his body’s strength and balance.
Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition, affects balance and walking, or “gait.” The disease disrupts brain circuits that normally make movement automatic, smooth, and well‑coordinated. Over time, this frequently leads to shorter step length and height, general unsteadiness, and an increased risk of falls. However, growing evidence supports exercise as a powerful intervention—both for symptom management and for potentially slowing disease progression.
Slack first started working within our LSVT BIG and LOUD program at our Eighth Avenue clinic, where he learned strategies to move and speak with more confidence and fluidity. The LSVT BIG program focuses on increasing movement amplitude, to help patients return to a normal gait pattern, while LSVT LOUD targets increasing vocal volume to improve communication confidence.
“What they did for me at Eighth Avenue laid all the groundwork,” Slack says. “They taught me balance and how to climb stairs.”
Slack made progress at Eighth Avenue, but when he fell and injured his rotator cuff four years ago, he decided to seek treatment a little closer to home. That’s how he came to our Hellertown clinic, where he has continued working with Dorothy Verna, PT, DPT, among other therapists.
“We tailored the evaluation to Richard,” Verna says. “Most of the time when I start treatment for a rotator cuff repair, there’s a lot of supine stretching, but he had expressed some nervousness about laying down and getting back up.” Verna had Slack perform movements that allowed him to stay seated.
Throughout Slack’s treatment, Verna continued to modify exercises to make him more comfortable. At the end of his rehabilitation, Slack’s shoulder function was restored, but he was still facing issues with balance that stemmed from his Parkinson’s. Verna quickly stepped in to develop a balance program for him.
“We talked about Richard’s goals and what he was having difficulty with,” Verna says. “In his sessions, we start with mobility and stretching, getting him upright, then incorporating high level balance activities with movement.” These functional movements include exercises like walking while turning, or stepping onto an unsteady surface while wearing ankle weights.
“Everything they do here helps me physically cope with the Parkinson’s,” Slack says. “Balance, leg strength, endurance…” Slack’s physical therapy regime has helped him catch himself from taking another fall.
“He worked so hard from day one,” Verna adds.
She is eager to keep tweaking Slack’s routine to fit new challenges that come up. When Slack described having difficulty getting out of bed, Verna came up with a creative solution: having Slack practice rolling and sitting up, while wearing a weighted vest.
“Richard lays down on a mat with the weighted vest on, and then tries to lay on his side, sit up, and then go back down, to strengthen his core muscles,” she explains.
She continually checks in and formally reassesses Slack every 10 visits to make sure his treatment continues to be beneficial. Per Slack’s medication routine, they make sure he’s scheduled first thing in the morning, so that he’s performing mobility and balance exercises while his medications are most effective.
“Every exercise I do has a reason behind it,” Slack says. “The therapy I got here has helped me be able to regain my balance.”
In general, physical therapy can help patients with Parkinson’s move with more ease and confidence.
“With Parkinson’s, tending to fall backwards is a big challenge, or walking and not being able to stop,” Verna explains. “We can work on changing walking speed and balance by standing on a rocker board, or stepping up and down onto an unlevel foam surface.”
Physical therapy can also help with posture. “Other activities include walking with a ball overhead, which can work on strength and get the thoracic spine extended,” Verna continues.
For Slack, success with physical therapy has been predicated on his hard work.
“Anything I throw at him, he says, let’s do it, let’s make it harder,” Verna says. “If I say, do three sets of 10, he always does an extra bonus one or two.”
Slack plans to continue managing his symptoms with physical therapy. He feels supported by our team at Hellertown and his wife, Peggy, who drives him to his appointments.
“I’m deeply, incredibly grateful to everyone here,” Slack says. He looks around the clinic, focusing on familiar faces. “I’m a regular here!”
NO REFERRAL NEEDED
If you think physical therapy could help you, don’t hesitate to reach out. Under Direct Access, you can receive physical therapy without a prescription from a doctor. Schedule an appointment with us here.