Picture of Physical Therapist Chris Stone helping assist a man who has one leg off the ground and he is holding up a weight ball.

Ashe Memorial Hospital physical therapist earns PWR!Moves certification

JEFFERSON, N.C. - Ashe Memorial Hospital physical therapist Chris Stone recently received her PWR!Moves certification.

As a PWR!Moves certified physical therapist, Stone is able to help treat patients with Parkinson's disease using a Parkinson's-specific exercise program designed to improve neuroplasticity and help slow the progression of the disease.

"It's important that you exercise early in the disease when you're first diagnosed," Stone said. "Exercise is medicine. Exercise can slow the progression of the disease and the need for more medication and helps with cognitive impairment. If we can get in there early and help these people, then it'll hopefully improve their long-term quality of life."

Since Parkinson's disease slows down the speed of movement, Stone utilizes the PWR!Moves curriculum to retrain and sustain a patient's functional mobility by using large amplitude movement to target multiple motor and cognitive symptoms. By maintaining maximum functional level, Stone is able to slow down the progression and help reduce a patient's functional decline as a result of the disease. PWR!Moves can address not only the slowness that comes with Parkinson's disease but also the smallness of the movements, postural deficits, balance, rigidity and muscle stiffness and cognition.

Stone recognizes that each patient's progression is unique; and as a result, she incorporates functional skill training into personalized goals, tasks and training activities to create an individualized program for each of her patients.

A neurological specialist focusing on stroke, brain and spinal cord injuries, Stone has more than 25 years of physical therapy experience. In the future, Stone would like to create a community program for those living with Parkinson's disease.

"I love neurological patients because it incorporates everything from moving to thinking," Stone said. "It impacts their quality of life and their ability to be independent. We work on overall function to improve their quality of life, and you get to see life-changing progress."

About Ashe Memorial Hospital
For the past 80 years, Ashe Memorial Hospital's dedicated team of board certified physicians, nurses and staff members have provided the highest quality medical care available to the people of Ashe County and the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. Ashe Memorial Hospital offers a wide variety of emergency, elective, rehabilitation and preventative health services.

Founded in 1941, Ashe Memorial Hospital is a fully accredited 25 bed critical hospital located in Jefferson, N.C. For more information, please visit ashememorial.org or call 336-846-7101.