Naples, Florida business helps those with Parkinson’s get moving

March 22, 2016

By John Osborne; Daily News Correspondent

Cinotto, left, and Montgomery are the creators and owners of Moving Forward Now in Naples.

When it comes to fighting the ravages of Parkinson's disease, baby steps definitely aren't the goal.

So with that in mind, a local pair of registered and licensed occupational therapists combined forces to create Moving Forward Now, a Naples-based business centered on providing treatment options for people suffering from Parkinson's disease, a progressive affliction that affects as many as 1 million people in the U.S.

According to the American Parkinson Disease Association, doctors diagnose as many as 60,000 new cases of Parkinson's disease each year, with the disease striking roughly 50 percent more men than women, and 60 years old marking the average onset age.

A disease of the nervous system characterized by tremor, muscular rigidity and slow, imprecise movements, Parkinson's is associated with degeneration of the basal ganglia of the brain and a deficiency of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

To combat those symptoms, occupational therapists and former professors Cindi Montgomery and Therese Cinotto specialize in LSVT Big, an exercise program based on the principle that the brain can learn and change (neuroplasticity).

The protocol was formatted from a program called the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment to help with speech for people with Parkinson's disease.

"LSVT Big is a very intense protocol that results in phenomenal changes," said Montgomery, who met Cinotto while both taught occupational therapy at Kaiser University in Fort Myers. "When I saw what it could do, I knew it was something I wanted to do with my life. I got a tingling feeling just thinking about it."

A Michigan native who holds occupational therapy degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of New Hampshire, Montgomery said LSVT Big lives up to its larger-than-life name.

Occupational therapists Cindi Montgomery, left, and Therese Cinotto do an exercise with Virginia Chandley at her home in Naples on Friday.

"If you've ever seen or known someone with Parkinson's, you know that their movements are slow, with small steps that often cause falling," she said. "So what we do is work with individuals to increase the amplitude of their movements. The point is to recalibrate the brain to initiate bigger movements, which in turn spur improvements in gait and balance and stopping and starting and freezing — all the things that are so much a part of a person's life with Parkinson's."

Montgomery said LSVT Big therapy takes place four times per week for four consecutive weeks, followed by exercise routines that need to be performed for the rest of a patient's life.

"It's quite intensive, and since we go to patients' homes for the therapy, we really feel like we have filled a niche in town because, for many people, getting to an outpatient clinic four times a week can prove difficult," Montgomery said. "Patients also receive the added benefit of training in their home atmosphere, which they navigate the most."

Montgomery said the monthlong LSVT Big therapy costs $1,450, with follow-up exercise services available for $50 per visit or at a price of $35 apiece when purchased in packages of six.

Client Barbara Lay, of Naples, said it was money well-spent.

"The program was so good; it helped me more than any other discipline I've tried, and I really appreciated their enthusiasm and skills," said Lay, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2013 after a dozen years of leading exercise classes for people with Parkinson's at local hospitals around Southwest Florida.

Client Virginia Chandley, of Naples, who was diagnosed six years ago, said much the same.

"I took this program in the hospital, and I continue to benefit from the exercises," she said. "Part of life for Parkinson's patients, which I am, is that we tend to make all small movements. With the protocol and practicing the large gestures, everything comes together more normally. I was recently in the hospital, where I was in bed and not able to exercise, but when I was tested I'd lost almost nothing. I really think that is probably due to performing this program."

Occupational therapists Therese Cinotto, left, and Therese Cinotto, right, do an exercise with Virginia Chandley at her home in Naples, FL on Friday, March 18, 2015. Therese Cinotto and Cindi Montgomery created Moving Forward Now which is a Naples-based business centered on providing treatment options for people with Parkinson's disease.    

Cinotto, who studied at Colorado State University and moved to Florida in 2002, said she hoped she and Montgomery could make a real impact on the community with their new business.

"I hope we can reach out and touch those newly diagnosed or those people who have lived with Parkinson's for a number of years and help them understand that they can improve the quality of their life by doing this protocol," she said. "There are a lot of good, positive things that come out of this protocol, so right now our biggest challenge is getting word out about who we are and educating the public and medical professionals that there's an option for the folks who have this diagnosis."

For more information call 239-572-6557 or email moving forwardnow.net@gmail.com.

http://health.einnews.com/article/317718784/1PHdsDWdw-JqvSZo