Using Cupping During Physical Therapy For Patients With SMA

Recently, Michael, our patient with SMA, has exhibited some increased tenderness and reduced tissue mobility to his calf muscles bilaterally. This is no surprise since he doesn’t wear footrests and is constantly in a plantarflexed, or toe-down position. In this...
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Positive Updates Regarding Physical Therapy For SMA Patients

As mentioned in our previous article, Michael, our patient with SMA, had been suffering from tailbone pain that was subsided by a modified stuck drawer technique to his sacrum. We had initially intended on performing this every other week, but since Michael has been...
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Coccyx Mobilization for Increased Comfort

Our bodies are not designed to sit all day long. We are designed to absorb shock through many different joints throughout the day, such as hips, knees, and ankles. When a patient is unable to use the lower half of their body and must sit all day, all that pressure...
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Improvements in Range of Motion with Physical Therapy

A frequent complaint and limitation for patients that have been diagnosed with SMA is lack of flexibility throughout their body. Contractures, or shortening of muscles leading to deformity of joints, can occur secondary to lack of ability to perform active range of...
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Frequent Kidney Stone in Inactive SMA Patients

Individuals that are sedentary, like my patient Michael, are more prone to having kidney stones secondary to too little activity as well as possible reduced fluid intake due to other restrictions, such as reduced upper extremity strength and ability to self-nourish....
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Seated Balance Exercises For SMA Patients

Throughout Michael’s physical therapy treatments, there have been several progressions of seated balance activities that we have worked on as he has demonstrated improved abilities to perform these activities. When we were first able to transfer Michael to the therapy...
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Increasing Cervical Range of Motion and Reducing Tension For SMA Patients

Cervical, or neck, range of motion is important for many different reasons. A major reason it is needed has to do with safety with scanning the environment during functional activities. Due to scoliosis, Michael has had most of his thoracic and lumbar spine fused,...
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SMA Patients May Have Difficulties Laying on Their Stomachs

When patients are limited in their range of motion, this can lead to an inability to tolerate certain positions. For example, Michael, who has been diagnosed from an early age with SMA, is severely lacking hip and knee extension, making it hard for him to assume a...
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The Dangers of Pressure Ulcers For SMA Patients

People with SMA spend most of their time sitting in a wheelchair. Because of this, they are at an increased risk of developing pressure ulcers. This is due to the increased time spent with weight-bearing through a specific area, usually, a bony prominence, such as the...
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Transferring My SMA Patient To A New Outpatient Clinic – Change Is Good!!

For nearly 3 years, I’ve been working with Michael as his primary clinician for physical therapy. Within the past month, I decided to move to a different physical therapy location in Ft. Worth Texas. A few weeks before the change was made, Michael and I discussed his...
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Nerve-muscle Communication Molecule May Be SBMA Therapeutic Target, Study Says

Increasing the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) — a molecule involved in the communication between nerve cells and muscle — specifically in muscle delayed symptom onset and slowed disease progression in a mouse model of spinal and bulbar muscular...

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Latest Articles from SMA HCP

MicroRNAs Can Predict Response to Spinraza, Study Suggests

MicroRNAs Can Predict Response to Spinraza, Study Suggests

May 27, 2022

MicroRNAs isolated from people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) types 2 and 3 before treatment predicted eventual responses to Spinraza (nusinersen) therapy, a study suggested. The study, “Muscle microRNAs in the cerebrospinal fluid predict clinical response to...

UK Collaboration Gets £1.25M Grant to Develop ‘Smart Suit’

UK Collaboration Gets £1.25M Grant to Develop ‘Smart Suit’

May 25, 2022

Development of an exoskeleton suit to help those living with progressive neuromuscular conditions that affect their upper-body movement will advance due to a £1.25 million (about $1.5 million) grant from the People’s Postcard Lottery in the United Kingdom. The “SMART...

SMA Patient Columns

My Experience with the JACO Robotic Arm

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...
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The Amino Acid Diet and Its Benefits

Nutrition has always been a challenge for my daughter, Ella. And, in turn, it is a challenge for my wife and me. Due to Ella's disease, she has an increased amount of difficulty digesting long-chain fats (meats, cheeses, etc.) and she also has a hard time maintaining...
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