New therapies for Parkinson's patients

A week before, Mary Jane Lutton couldn't walk and bend to pick up something without falling over.

But on this day at St. Luke's Physical Therapy office in Bethlehem, the 63-year-old walked confidently, bent, picked up a ball and kept moving forward.

Even without the use of her cane.

"Now I don't have to worry about it," says the Bethlehem Township resident. "They are helping me tremendously."

Lutton, who has Parkinson's disease, has started to regain some mobility and speech clarity thanks to two new intensive therapy programs offered through St. Luke's University Hospital Network.

Parkinson's is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder that affects nearly 1 million people in the United States. The disease primarily affects the person's ability to control normal movement and speech.

There's no known cure for Parkinson's. Traditional treatments include medication and sometimes surgery.

At St. Luke's, two new therapy programs LSVT BIG and LSVT LOUD as they are known take the approach of reprogramming the "smallness" of patients' movements and speech.

A person with Parkinson's will move slowly, taking tiny steps (which can often lead to falls). But to them, that sluggish movement seems normal.

A person with Parkinson's will also speak softly, sometimes barely audibly, and be unclear. But to them, they are speaking clearly and at a normal level.

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New therapies for Parkinson's patients