MS MobilityStrength Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis

1. What is Multiple Sclerosis?

   A chronic disease of the nervous system. The condition is the result of random destruction of the myelin sheaths that insulate nerve cells. Multiple sclerosis usually affects young adults, causing weakness or paralysis in parts of the body, blurred vision, muscle spasms or incontinence. The disease then commonly goes into remission that may last several years, but recurring attacks can cause increasing disability. For some, the condition does not become severe; for others, over time, extensive nerve damage causes a loss of muscle control that precludes living a normal life.

Anatomy

1. What is Frozen Shoulder?

   Poor posture can cause a shortening of the ligaments around the shoulder joint, which can lead to frozen shoulder. What is Frozen Shoulder?

Cognitive

1. What exactly is meant by "cognition"?

     The word comes from the Latin verb "to think" and refers to the "higher" brain functions such as memory and reasoning in contrast to more primitive functions such as sensation (e.g., vision, hearing) and motor function (e.g., strength, coordination). In MS, a number of these "higher" functions may be affected.

     Obtained from Multiple Sclerosis A Guide for Families

2. How do I face the cognitive challenges?

   

   Click Book to Purchase!

   

   Overview

   When attorney Jeffrey Gingold misplaced his wife on the living room couch and lost awareness of his children, little did he know that he was experiencing a hidden symptom of multiple sclerosis: cognitive difficulties. Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis is a courageous and compelling personal account of one man's anguishing struggle with this aspect of the disease. It was written for the silent majority of MS patients who are privately dealing with MS cognitive symptoms and potential disabilities.

   This new edition has been revised with on-point cognitive strategies and updated MS resources. The book includes a new foreword written by Dawn Langdon of the UK MS Trust and four new chapters that follow Jeffrey's journey since 2006. He openly explores some MS physical symptoms, which may accompany the thinking impediments that strike at his cognitive awareness and functions. Not only did he become more active in the movement to cure MS, the progression of his MS led to a more controversial MS treatment, in effort to make his disease manageable.

   Whether or not a person is dealing with the cognitive issues of MS this book should be on the bookshelf of every individual who is dealing with MS

   Gingold was a high-powered attorney with a wife and two young daughters when, at 36, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease that afflicts over 400,000 people in the United States. After five years of dealing with the effects of the disease's characteristic brain lesions, he retired from his law practice and became a volunteer and advocate for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This book (the first edition was published in 2006) details the cognitive challenges he faced—losing his train of thought while making a statement in court, getting lost a few blocks from home, forgetting whether he had dropped his daughters off at school, and not really recognizing his wife sitting next to him on their sofa—and the way he coped with them, from practical aides to courage, humor, and persistence in finding a neurologist who took his smallest mental lapses seriously. Since then, he has switched to a new, controversial treatment that has put his MS into remission. VERDICT Gingold often speaks to groups afflicted with MS and their families and health-care providers, and this is another powerful testimony that interested readers will appreciate. Recommended.—Marcia Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH

Fitness

1. Which Exercise Should I Choose?

   There is not one specific exercise that is best for people with MS. The most important factor when patients choose an exercise program is to find something they enjoy, because maintaining an exercise program is difficult if the person does not like the activity.

2. Can I exercise if I am in a wheelchair?

     Even patients who use wheelchairs can-and should-exercise as often as possible. Before beginning an exercise program, wheelchair-bound patients should discuss a program with their doctor and physical therapist and find out which exercises would be the most useful. Just as with other MS patients, those in a wheelchair should not exercise to the point of exhaustion. Patients who have lost the use of their legs can instead concentrate on their arms and upper torso. Exercise is particularly recommeded for these patients because sitting in a weelchair for long periods of time can trigger problems such a stiffness, poor circulation, bedsores, sluggish bowels and depression. Exercises involving range of motion, stretching, strengthening, balance, and aerobics are all imporant for someone who is not ambulatory.

3. Can exercises strengthen muscles in MS?

     Yes! Resistive, strength-building exercises can often increase strength just enough to improve functions.

Mobility

1. What are some of the walking problems common in MS?

     Toe drag and Drop foot are related to muscle weakness. Weakness in both legs is Paraparesis. Weakness in only one leg is Monoparesis.

2. What is mobility impairment?

   Problems in walking and getting around independently are a major consideration among people with MS, which can profoundly affect a person's quality of life. Most commonly, people with MS find they must restrict activites due to spasticity, impaired balance, coordination difficulties, tremor and weakness. The ultimate effect of these problems can lead to atrophy, contracted muscles, and poor conditioning.