Residency Course
Physical Therapy Management in Huntington’s Disease
Faculty: Lori Quinn, EdD, PT
Course Description.
Huntington’s disease is a genetic neurodegenerative condition that results in a triad of motor, cognitive and behavioral impairments over a 15-20 year period. Individuals with HD can present with a complex presentation of voluntary and involuntary motor impairments. This comprehensive course will provide an evidence-based foundation for physical therapy evaluation and intervention across all disease stages. This course will provide an overview of neuropathology of HD and current medical interventions as well as upcoming clinical trials. The course will cover physical therapy evaluation, outcome measures, and intervention strategies based on the best available evidence, including recently developed clinical guidelines. Interventions will encompass interventions across the disease spectrum including exercise (aerobic, strengthening and flexibility) and physical activity interventions, gait and balance training, task-specific training, falls prevention, and end stage management. Management of the disease in the presence of complex cognitive and and behavioral impairments will also be discussed.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to (examples below):
Describe the pathophysiology and clinical manifestation of cognitive, motor and behavioral impairments in HD.
Discuss key evaluation measures and standardized outcomes to assess impairments and activity limitations across the disease stages.
Develop a comprehensive evidence-based intervention plan for case examples of people in the early, middle and later stages of HD.
Discuss strategies to manage fall risk including environmental modifications.
The online course will be launched in Aug, 2019
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