Making Moves at Any Age with IM

Tom who is a retired veterinarian was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He was having difficulty with “freezing up”. When visitors came by it would take Tom a very long time to answer the door. He would often get stuck on the way and couldn’t get his legs to move for a few minutes. Tom was using a walker when he began training with Interactive Metronome® (IM).

As IM training continued and Tom established good internal timing for the upper body, lower body movements were added to his training plan. He started with weight shifts in all planes, crossing midline, leaning, etc. Tom quickly progressed to movement patterns of weight shifting including moving his feet and legs – turning, crossing midline, lateral stepping and stepping to reach. By the time he had finished the training he was walking in his home without using a walker.

Tom would often go to college basketball games, but would continue to take his walker because he was concerned with “freezing up” in public, which created an increase in his anxiety. He would utilize strategies of weight shifting through his hips or marching in place to a handheld electronic metronome that he could take with him. This would “break the freeze” quickly allowing him the ability to better enjoy the evening with less stress and anxiety.