Physical Therapists News

SMA provides myriad challenges to multiple people on the caregiving team.  As a prosthetist and orthotist, there are a few observations I have made over the years in terms of bracing considerations for SMA.  The first big question relates to whether to brace or not, or if there is…

In Physical Therapy, our goal is to improve independence and return the patient back to within functional limits. With my current patient with SMA, his goal for physical therapy is to improve his core strength and neck strength. I am the first to admit, I was a little frightened…

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive, hereditary disease with a reported prevalence of 1 in 11,000 live births.[1]  As the disease affects motor neurons, the clinical manifestations relate to muscular weakness and atrophy.  The specific clinical course varies depending on the patient and the subtype of…

So, you received your patient’s medical history form and there it is. Spinal Muscular Atrophy. If you did what I did, you searched and searched the internet and articles for best practices to treat and evaluate this patient. I found out more information on Spinal Muscular Atrophy and the different…

Reldesemtiv improved muscle strength for walking and respiration in a dose-dependent manner in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients, data from a Phase 2 clinical trial show. As a fast muscle activator, reldesemtiv will not treat the underlying causes of SMA — a lack of the SMN protein to nourish muscles…

Taking care of a child with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) significantly affects several aspects of  families’ lives, including finances, career choices, social life, and mental health, according to an Australian study. The study, “Financial, opportunity and psychosocial costs of spinal muscular atrophy: an exploratory qualitative analysis…

Finding treatments and potential cures for rare diseases is crucial, but so is the quality of patients’ lives — a rather nebulous term that means different things to different people. “Recently, there’s been much more of a focus on Quality of Life (QoL) issues, real-world evidence and patient-reported outcomes,” said…

Throughout my life, I have required assistance with the most basic tasks. Things like scratching my head, getting myself a drink, or picking something up off the floor are just a few items on a never-ending list of impossibilities. Fortunately, there is now technology that can help…

We have collected resource links to help you quickly find the information you need, related to SMA specific Physical Therapist Resources.

Neurological health depends as much on signals sent by the body’s leg muscles to the brain as it does on those sent from the brain to the muscles, according to a recent study. These results offer new clues as to why patients with neurological diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)…