In-Home Physical Therapy for Mom

Mom has lost a lot of weight and walks really slowly and sometimes has trouble with her balance. I am concerned that she has lost some muscle mass along with the weight. We try to get her moving and walking, but she is 85 years old. I don't want to do anything to hurt her.

The next time mom had an appointment with her primary doctor, I asked about physical therapy (PT). She said she could put in a referral for PT and someone would call me. Mom is on Medicare. It was as easy as that! I asked about other services, but we would start with PT. Mom's new physical therapist called maybe a week or 2 later. A week after that he started coming twice a week. He. Is. Amazing! He is so nice and kind. He gets her moving.

Testing and assessing mom's needs

I told him my concerns about her weight loss. He said, "Yes, it is a concern." While it has allowed the doctor to eliminate one diabetic medication completely and decrease the other, she has lost muscle mass and bone mass. That is common. She is more at risk of fractures from falling. It doesn’t take much.

The first day, he tested her range of movement and strength. She is pretty good in some ways, but weak in others. He tested her sitting and standing, and going up and down a couple of stairs. He tested her arm strength and leg strength. He is very encouraging and monitors her closely, ready to catch her if she teeters.

I took him on a tour of our home and where she hangs out. He checked out her bed, which is electric, and the bathroom where we have a rack around the toilet to steady her. He was good with that. He had some recommendations about putting grab bars in the shower since mom does not currently have any. There may be some temporary options so we don't have to drill grab bars into the tile.

He recommended we declutter a little - did my husband put him up to that? The distractions can be difficult for someone with Alzheimer's disease to process.

Sharing professional perspective on the often overlooked

He told a story of another patient with Parkinson's disease, a man who had trouble getting to the toilet. There was a large set of display shelves with trinkets and tchotchkes on the wall in the bathroom. The PT told his wife it needs to come down. Once it was gone, the man went in to the bathroom and did his business, no problem. The visual of all those little things was too overwhelming to the man, and he couldn't get past it, literally.

I have noticed mom wants to know about every thing that is laying out and who it belongs to and what it is. Processing visual stimuli is complicated and arduous when you have dementia in ways that we take for granted or just tune out otherwise.

Tips and pointers from a PT

The next week, mom slipped out of her big chair onto the floor one day. We just got behind mom and tried to lift her up under her arms, but it was awkward and uncomfortable for her.

With my dad, we also had a similar issue - trying to lift him up holding his hands and bracing his feet from the front. Dad's knees just bent and he crumpled. He couldn't coordinate to brace and straighten. I thought, "Hey, I'll ask mom's PT about it." His way was much better and I had not thought to do it that way. It was great!

He demonstrated a better way. I volunteered to be the fallen. He said to first put a chair or something stable next to her, then come up under her arm with it over my shoulder and grab her waistband with my other hand around from the back, like a fireman lift. Then I just need to lift her high enough to get on the chair, not all the way up. It is a good thing she has lost weight. I could not have lifted her before.

These tips and pointers from a professional, like mom's PT, make my family and I more confident in the health and safety of my mom.

PT is helpful with Alzheimer's

Another concern I have is mom's difficulty putting her head back to take medication. She is so stiff. He had some exercises to help work on that! Mom's PT is great. I can text him with questions and issues. He said I can cancel at the last minute if mom is having a bad day.

It is so good to have a professional to talk to about these things. He has a wealth of experience and has all types of patients with different levels of health and mobility. He says mom is doing great and so am I. He is very encouraging to me, too.