MADRID 5 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Association of Physiotherapists in Neurology (AEF-Neuro), Armando Rodríguez Martínez, highlighted the “key” role of physiotherapists when detecting and addressing motor alterations in people with dementia, and that is that the observation of movement and motor skills can serve as a “early marker” of cognitive deterioration.
Rodríguez Martínez, also vice president of the Professional College of Physiotherapists of Extremadura and director of the Emeritaneuro Center, explained that physiotherapy provides a “differential” nuance in the approach of dementias, not only from rehabilitation, but in prevention, since the deterioration of the motor function can precede cognitive.
In that sense, he pointed out that analyzing the movement allows access to the cognitive aspects of the patient, since motor development is “intimately” related to processes such as attention, memory and planning, all during a online seminar organized by the Spanish Confederation of Alzheimer’s and other dementias (CEAFA).
For all these reasons, he has underlined the importance of a systematic evaluation to detect diseases such as Alzheimer’s early, although he has affirmed that the evolution of motor alterations can vary according to the type of dementia and that they are more evident in advanced phases.
“Every movement begins and ends in a posture. The posture follows the movement as its shadow,” said Rodríguez, who has given special importance to postural control and muscle tone as key indicators in motor evaluation.
The specialist has put hypotonia, which can be related to attentional deficits and that is a “still undervalued” symptom in the diagnosis of dementias.
Finally, he has called to reinforce the presence of specialized physiotherapy in the diagnostic and monitoring teams of people with dementia, and has proposed the incorporation of the figure of the neurophisiotherapist as a key agent in this process.
