UF Health Rehab Center – Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases

The UF Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration offers the highest level of integrated interdisciplinary care for patients with movement and neuropsychiatric disorders.

The mission of the Center is to provide medical and surgical care to patients with Parkinson’s disease, tremor disorders, dystonia, and other movement disorders and to perform research that will lead to better treatments, and ultimately cures.

At the Center, University of Florida clinicians and researchers from the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, neuroscience, neuropsychology and orthopaedics come together with Shands speech and communication therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, neuropathologists, social workers, radiologists and biomedical engineering staff to provide comprehensive treatment plans for patients.

UF Health Shands Rehabilitation Program

In conjunction with medication, physical and occupational therapy can help those with movement disorders maintain maximum function in day-to-day routines and live functional, independent and fulfilling lives. UF Health Shands therapists at the UF Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration have extensive training in the complexity of movement disorders and the impact the disease has on the patient, caregiver and family members.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is science-driven, evidence-based therapy that enables people of all ages to live life to its fullest and maintain health. Occupational therapy also helps patients learn to prevent injury and to live better lives with illness or disability.

The following treatments are customized for individual patient needs:

• Stretching and exercising
• Health education
• Mobility equipment recommendations
• Energy conservation techniques
• Activity analysis
• Splinting and support bandaging
• Corrective posture and positioning
• Compensatory strategies 
• Motor retraining
• Neuromuscular evaluations 

To enable patients to reach their maximum potential, the following treatment plans are used:

Physical activities of daily living:

• Dressing
• Feeding
• Grooming
• Toileting
• Bathing

Instrumental activities of daily living:

• Handwriting
• Driving
• Shopping
• Doing housework
• Taking medications
• Using the telephone

Work or school activities:

• Using the computer
• Doing repetitive tasks
• Doing heavy tasks

Leisure and recreational activities:

• Enjoying sports
• Playing games
• Reading

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is the treatment of physical dysfunction through the use of science-driven, evidence-based exercises, functional training and the application of neuromuscular evaluations.

UF Health Shands physical therapists work with individual patients to determine plans and goals that help maintain the capacity to perform, with satisfaction, the activities of daily living.

The following treatments are customized for individual patient needs:

• Fall prevention
• Wellness promotion
• Improving mobility
• Enhancing cardiovascular fitness
• Posture re-education
• Improving quality of life
• Patient and caregiver education
• Group exercise classes

Physical therapists can help treat:

• Muscular weakness
• Decreased range of motion
• Pain caused by an injury or disease
• Balance deficits
• Difficulty walking
• Postural changes
• Functional limitations such as bed mobility, transfers from sitting, standing or lying down, and ascending and descending stairs