The new ‘European Physiotherapy Guideline for Parkinson’s disease’ have been launched by Parkinson Net.
The Guideline development was initiated and mainly sponsored by ParkinsonNet and the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy. The Guideline Development Group represents professional physiotherapy associations from 19 European countries. People with Parkinson’s disease were involved in the Guideline development from the outset and have contributed throughout the process.
Dr. Samyra Keus, who lead the development: “It was a unique and challenging collaboration, with a great product as result. The Guideline will be helpful to all involved in Parkinson care who, supporting evidence-based, patient centred care”. Therefore, the Guideline comes in four parts:
- The Guideline, mainly for physiotherapists: background on Parkinson’s disease and health management, physiotherapy core areas and rationale and evidence for categories of interventions
- Information for people with Parkinson’s: self-management support and how to get the best out of physiotherapy care
- Information for clinicians: when to refer to physiotherapy and what to expect
- Information to the development and scientific justification of the Guideline: insight in the barriers and facilitators of current care and details to measurement tools and the GRADE-based recommendations
A copy of the European Physiotherapy Guideline for Parkinson’s disease can now be downloaded at www.parkinsonnet.info/euguideline.
Currently the Guideline is available in English. Translations into German, Dutch and other languages are underway. For more information, please contact Dr. Samyra Keus.