People living with Parkinson’s disease and other related movement disorders often struggle to control gestures and actions that become smaller and slower. “Small motor” tasks like buttoning a shirt and “large motor” tasks such as getting up from a sofa and maintaining balance while walking become increasingly difficult. At MorseLife, LSVT BIG treatments, the acronym for Lee Silverman Voice Treatments, are customized to each person’s specific needs and aspirations to enhance their quality of life.

These research-based treatment protocols are designed specifically to address motor, sensory and non-motor symptoms and are tailored to the stage or severity of an individual’s condition. At MorseLife, patients learn to realign their perceptions of their movements along with strategies to produce bigger motions similar to others living without their movement challenges.

There are more than 16,000 physical therapists trained and certified in LSVT BIG in 42 countries. Studies have shown that people with Parkinson’s disease were able to improve their walking, balance, and activities such as rolling in bed.

MorseLife is contributing to growing the knowledge base of LSVT BIG through this study. Future plans are to introduce LSVT LOUD speech therapy, which improves communication in daily living. Research on LSVT LOUD has documented that people with Parkinson’s show improvements in loudness and intonation of their speech, as well as clarity of speech, facial expressions, and some preliminary data on swallowing.

LSVT programs have been scientifically studied for over 25 years with support from the National Institute for Deafness and other Communication Disorders within the National Institutes of Health and other funding organizations.

CONTACT US