Yoga therapists, as well as many other complementary and alternative medical practitioners, are weighing measures that could promote reimbursement for services from insurance companies. Becoming recognized by insurance companies as a health or wellness provider could be an important step in helping to make Yoga therapy more available and more affordable for the public. What, however, will insurance companies require from Yoga therapists in terms of documentation, proof of medical necessity, goals for Yoga therapy, and so on? These are questions that have been debated in three different professions in which I participate, and I have experienced both the benefits and the detriments of billing and being compensated by insurance companies as a physical therapist, massage therapist, and Feldenkrais® teacher.
One major functional problem that many individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) face is gait difficulties, including a shuffling gait and freezing episodes. Proposed treatment options in physical therapy (PT) include teaching PD patients to utilize external cues in order to allow for a more efficient gait. The purpose of this case study was to compare the effectiveness of visual cue alone and combined visual and auditory cues on various gait parameters in a patient with PD, who was not receiving pharmaceutical treatment. The patient was a 71-year-old male who presented with a diagnosis, signs and symptoms of PD. The patient was seen in PT for 5×/week for 7 weeks. The main focus on the intervention was improved gait through gait strategies such as visual and auditory cues. Outcomes showed increased gait velocity, distance ambulated, and decreased frequency of freezing with visual and auditory cues compared to visual cues alone.
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