Dementia
Description
Contrary to belief, this is not a “normal” part of aging. Dementia is a term for several diseases which affect a person’s memory, thoughts and ability to perform tasks necessary for daily living (eg: showering, making food).
Dementia worsens over time due to the gradual destruction of brain cells from other diseases, which leads to physical decline, behavioural and mood changes and memory loss
Common Signs & Symptoms of Dementia
- Forgetfulness
- Losing track of time
- Trouble making decisions
- Mood Changes
- Getting Lost
- Trouble concentrating
Dementia - Impact on Life
Dementia impacts multiple aspects of life including:
- Physical, psychological, social, and economic wellbeing
- Affects not only the person living with dementia, but also carers, families, and society
Lack of awareness and understanding often leads to:
- Stigmatization of those affected
- Barriers to early diagnosis and access to care
As dementia progresses, individuals may:
- Require increased assistance with personal care
- Fail to recognize family members or friends
- Develop mobility difficulties
- Lose bladder and bowel control
- Experience difficulty eating and drinking
How Can Exercise Physiology Help with Dementia?
Exercise Physiology can help to:
Identify what is giving you the most trouble and what is at risk of declining
- Dementia affects your mobility, balance and strength and as a result it can reduce what you do on a day to day basis
- Factors that contribute to Dementia and that can help to improve symptoms include:
- Mobility and ability to get in and out of a chair
- Upper body strength and difficulty carrying and lifting items
- Lower body strength and difficulty of tasks involving your legs
- Increase your strength to help get up from the floor after a fall
- We can help to identify what is causing you the most trouble so it can be directly addressed leading to effective results and continual improvement in mobility
Identify a few key exercises that will make a big difference
- By directly addressing the key issues identified above it will lead to a much more effective intervention
- From the testing we can identify 3 exercises that will help you to improve and manage your symptoms
Work on exercises to improve your overall function and ability to participate in activities that your Dementia has been stopping you from doing
- Our Exercise Physiologists complete regular home visits helping people to complete a tailored set of exercises to help improve their overall mobility
- By having an Exercise Physiologist come to visit we are able to ensure that you are working at the right level to improve your physical condition and practice exercises that you are unable to do on your own
Help you develop a regular exercise routine that becomes part of your daily life
- We can show you the best way to get up safely from the floor
- We can help improve your ability to use stairs
- Complete balance exercises with you that you are unable to do on your own
- We can help implement a regular, easy to complete exercise routine
When To Get Help
- The earlier the better, however, exercise is still important at later stages.
- Just because someone has dementia doesn’t mean they can’t reduce or manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life
- Exercise Physiology identifies the key symptoms which are causing the most physical trouble and directly addresses them through exercise.
Where To Start
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes- we can contact you provider to organise services through your package. We are able to fit in around current budgets to provide an effective service without impacting your current plan.
Our services under the Support at Home Program do not have any copayments attached and are a fantastic preventative option that help to reduce condition progress and provide people with a way to improve their health and mobility
During our initial appointments we complete a series of tests looking at:
- Balance
- Grip Strength
- Walking
- Standing up from a chair(leg strength)
- Stair use(if possible)
- Aches and Pains
- Other relevant physical tests
These tests give us an indicator of what area needs to be addressed and helps to identify what exercises will help the most.
By prioritising a few exercises it helps to improve exercise adherence, reduce frustration and improve the reward for effort
All of these tests can be improved over time through exercise and they provide an in depth overview of someones physical condition
We will recommend the best option based on the testing results completed in the initial assessment
We see most of our clients on average either weekly or once per fortnight. However we are happy to discuss options based on individual circumstances
During an exercise physiology visit you can expect to compete a number of exercises working on improving the areas you need to improve
Initial Assessment
Questions regarding
- Medical Conditions
- Aches and Pains
- Medications
- Falls History
- Current Exercise Levels
Some tests looking at:
- Balance
- Walking
- Sitting and Standing
- Stair Use
- Grip Strength
- Aches and Pains
From this we recommend how often you would benefit from our services, plus the 3 most important exercises to improve
These tests are done every 6 weeks to monitor improvement and to identify other areas that need to be worked on
During a normal session we usually complete:
- 5-6 exercises working on improving
- These exercises are progressed over the sessions
- We update any home exercises as needed
- Practice completing harder exercises that require supervision eg balance