Beyond Medication: Assembling Your Full Care Team

If Parkinson’s disease (PD) feels like a team sport, your neurologist is the quarterback, leading strategy, making key decisions, and calling the plays. But to truly succeed, every winning team needs its specialist coaches, experts who train specific skills, enhance performance, and keep every player at their best.
For individuals living with Parkinson’s, those coaches are your physical, occupational, and speech therapists, collectively known as the Allied Health A-Team.

While medications play a vital role in controlling symptoms, they aren’t the whole picture. A comprehensive care plan for Parkinson’s integrates:

• The right medications,

• A healthy lifestyle including exercise and diet, and

• Regular, targeted therapies to keep you strong, mobile, and independent.

Therapy isn’t reactive, it’s proactive.
It’s not just about fixing problems after they appear. It’s about building and preserving abilities before they’re lost.

A physical therapist helps you build a “balance reserve” to prevent falls.
An occupational therapist equips you with strategies to stay independent in daily life.
A speech therapist helps you keep your voice strong and clear before it fades.

Together, they form your Parkinson’s performance team, helping you move better, speak stronger, and live more confidently.

The Physical Therapist (PT): Your Expert for Better Movement, Balance, and Safety

Movement challenges are among the most recognizable features of Parkinson’s, and that’s exactly where a Physical Therapist steps in. PTs are movement specialists who design personalized programs to keep you active, safe, and moving efficiently.

They can help address:

• Gait disturbances: Small, shuffling steps or reduced arm swing.

• Freezing of gait: Feeling “stuck” or “glued to the floor”, PTs teach cueing and rhythm strategies to break through these moments.

• Balance and stability issues: Reducing fall risk through targeted balance training.

• Postural changes: Helping correct stooped or bent posture.

• Pain: Often linked to rigidity or poor movement patterns.

• Transfer difficulties: Easing movements like standing from a chair, turning in bed, or getting in and out of a car.

Every individual’s Parkinson’s journey is unique. A PT takes out the guesswork by developing a safe, customized exercise plan that evolves with your needs, keeping you mobile, strong, and confident.

The Occupational Therapist (OT): Your Partner for Mastering the Tasks of Daily Life

While physical therapy focuses on movement, Occupational Therapy focuses on what you do with that movement, the meaningful activities that define your daily life and independence.

An OT helps you adapt, simplify, and succeed at daily tasks, including:

• Adapting your environment: Installing grab bars, tub seats, or swivel cushions for safer and easier transfers.

• Recommending adaptive tools: From utensils with larger handles to Velcro clothing, these small adjustments can make a big difference.

• Teaching new strategies: Breaking complex routines, like cooking or dressing, into manageable steps while conserving energy.

• Enhancing fine motor control: Exercises and tips to improve handwriting, typing, or crafts that require precision.

The goal? To help you stay independent, engaged, and empowered in the activities that bring you joy and purpose.

The Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP): Your Coach for a Stronger Voice and Safer Swallowing

Parkinson’s can quietly affect your ability to speak and swallow, making the role of a Speech-Language Pathologist indispensable.

Communication:

Up to 89% of people with Parkinson’s experience changes in speech, often a softer voice, monotone pitch, or slurred articulation. This happens because the same rigidity that affects your limbs also impacts the muscles used for speech and breathing.
Evidence-based therapies like LSVT LOUD® have been proven to strengthen vocal intensity, improve clarity, and rebuild communication confidence.

Swallowing (Dysphagia):

Swallowing difficulties can be more serious than they appear, leading to malnutrition, choking, or even pneumonia.
An SLP conducts formal swallow evaluations and provides targeted exercises, dietary adjustments, and strategies (like changing liquid consistency or posture) to keep you safe while eating and drinking.

In short, an SLP helps you stay connected, nourished, and safe, supporting two of the most fundamental human functions.

The Right Time is Now: Why Early Referral is Key

Many people think therapy is only for advanced Parkinson’s, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Expert guidelines emphasize: It’s never too early to start therapy.

Early engagement allows therapists to:

• Establish a baseline before significant changes occur.

• Teach preventive techniques to preserve function.

• Provide confidence and knowledge to manage challenges as they arise.

By getting connected early, you gain a lifelong resource, your personal Allied Health A-Team, who will walk with you through every stage of Parkinson’s.

Empower Your Journey

Physical, occupational, and speech therapies are not “extras”, they are essential.
They help you maintain function, ensure safety, and enhance your overall quality of life.
Yet, only 14% of people with Parkinson’s use these services, a gap that needs to close.

Your care doesn’t end with medication, it begins with a multidisciplinary approach.
Ask your neurologist today for referrals to these specialists.
Your future self will thank you.

Takeaway

Your Parkinson’s journey is uniquely yours, but you don’t have to walk it alone.
With your neurologist leading the team and your Allied Health A-Team by your side, you can move forward with strength, safety, and purpose, every single day.