Physical therapy provider just the sixth organization in the U.S. to offer this program
The Recovery Project, a leading provider of progressive, effective neuro rehab therapies that improve the lives and functionality of patients with spinal cord and other neurological injuries, has launched a new Functional Movement Disorder clinic at its Lansing, Mich., location—making the clinic just the sixth organization in the United States to offer this program. Polly Swingle, co-founder of The Recovery Project and lead physical therapist, made the announcement.
The Recovery Project’s Functional Movement Disorder clinic, known as LIFE (Learning Independent Function Everyday), is an intense program that provides patients with tools and strategies to eliminate their symptoms. The program lasts for five consecutive days. During that time, patients are treated at The Recovery Project by a multi-disciplinary team that uses an integrated approach to treat all aspects of the body and includes clinicians from multiple specialty areas, including:
- * Neurology
- * Psychiatry/Neuropsychology
- * Physical/Occupational Therapy
- * Speech Therapy
- * Mindful Breath and Meditation
“There are historically a lot of misconceptions about Functional Movement Disorders and why they occur, but new evidence-based therapies have created opportunities to help individuals with this diagnosis and we’re excited to be at the forefront of providing those therapies to our clients,” said Swingle. “Through LIFE, we saw a new way to help a segment of largely underserved individuals better understand what is happening to their bodies and implement treatments that will minimize symptoms and even make them go away completely.”
A Functional Movement Disorder is typically categorized as unusual movements, spasms or body positions that an individual is unable to control. The disorder stems from the way signals are sent through the brain, as opposed to disease or damage to the nervous system that causes other movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease. These distressing and disabling movements may include tremors, jerks, twitches, gait problems and/or speech difficulties. The LIFE program effectively works to re-wire how parts of the patient’s nervous system functions to reduce or eliminate symptoms.
The Recovery Project’s Lansing location is currently accepting clients for its Functional Movement Disorder clinic. Clients must have a definitive Functional Movement Disorder diagnosis and referral from a movement disorder specialist neurologist to be eligible to participate in the LIFE program. For more information, visit www.therecoveryproject.net or call the Lansing clinic directly at 517.325.0996.