Author Archives: Emily Jones

Every patient with SMA has different abilities and deficits as well as different ways of transportation. Most are unable to walk independently, therefore require assistance of some sort. Michael, our patient with SMA, has a power chair that he uses to navigate around. He has his controls on the right…

Patients with SMA often spend the majority of their time either in their wheelchair or in their bed. Since they can be fairly limited to these two places, it is important to increase their independence within those areas. Although my patient with SMA, Michael, will most likely not be able…

With patients that are diagnosed with SMA, they can have a hard time controlling their neck and trunk, which makes it more difficult to be independent with chair mobility, such as ascending and descending ramps, as well as assisting with transfers. When first starting these exercises, it is…

Working with a patient with SMA is not all that different from working with any other patient. Your plan of care advances and changes while working with the patient and making observations as you see fit to the patient’s overall wellbeing. To get Michael positioned for the assisted…

With a patient like Michael, who has SMA, it can be a challenge to continue growing their treatment plan by presenting new exercises that help them reach their goals.  Often times we resort to starting a new exercise and modifying it depending on Michael’s performance. Although I know…

Students must perform multiple clinical rotations before they graduate PT or PTA school. When students come into our outpatient clinic, they are exposed to a wide variety of diagnosis. One that always baffles them is SMA. In most cases. SMA is briefly taught about in school, because physical therapy…

Your typical SMA patient spends much of their day sitting in a wheelchair. While this may be normal for them, it can cause problems with muscle tightness and soreness during their typical day. My patient, Michael, was diagnosed with severe hip, muscle, and nerve damage in his right…

  While the majority of students in physical therapy learn how to transfer patients in school with many different assistance requirements, patients who suffer from spinal muscular atrophy usually present more of a challenge than many physical therapists come across in the field, especially working in an outpatient setting. Some…

[two_third_last] If you are working with a patient with SMA, you will most likely find that they are in their wheelchair full time. This makes sitting balance very important for many reasons. If they have good sitting balance, this will make traveling up and down ramps easier and more…

For a patient with SMA to be able to function with their maximal amount of independence, it is important to have as much range of motion possible. As with the majority patients with SMA, my current patient with SMA spends most of his time in his wheelchair. Therefore, he…