Weeks 1–2
Pain
Find your baseline.
A full movement and balance evaluation maps exactly where you stand today, and hands-on work eases the stiffness that makes moving feel harder than it should.
What We Treat
Parkinson’s disease treatment in Temple.
The steps that have gotten shorter. The balance you no longer take for granted. Movement, strength, and confidence can still be built, alongside your neurologist, starting with a cause-first evaluation of exactly what’s changed.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you or someone you love?
- Steps that have quietly gotten shorter and shuffling instead of striding
- Freezing in the doorway, feet stuck for a beat that feels longer than it looks
- Holding the wall on the way to the mailbox, just in case
- Handwriting that keeps getting smaller until family asks what it says
- Turning over in bed has become a whole project instead of a movement
- Family hovering close by at gatherings, just to be safe
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
Parkinson’s changes how the brain talks to the body. Movement can still be trained.
Parkinson’s slows and disrupts the signals that tell your muscles when and how to move. That shows up as shorter steps, a stooped posture, slower reactions, and balance that isn’t as automatic as it used to be. It’s not weakness and it’s not something you’re imagining. It’s the disease changing the wiring.
Physical therapy doesn’t treat Parkinson’s itself, and it isn’t a replacement for your neurologist. What it does is retrain the movement patterns underneath: gait, balance, strength, and the specific tasks that have gotten harder for you. A cause-first evaluation maps exactly which patterns need work, so your plan targets your actual deficits alongside your medical team, not a generic exercise sheet.
The Honest Truth
Waiting doesn’t slow Parkinson’s down. Staying active might.
If you keep waiting
- Unused muscles keep weakening, and balance gets harder to trust
- Small hesitations become avoided outings, and the world gets smaller
- A fall becomes more likely the longer strength and balance go untrained
If you start this week
- You get a clear picture of exactly which movements need the most work
- Balance and gait training start building confidence from day one
- You get a plan with an endpoint, working alongside your neurologist, not instead of them
Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built around your movement.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for Parkinson’s movement training.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Retrain the movement.
Gait and balance drills retrain the specific patterns that have gotten smaller and slower, one deliberate rep at a time.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Build strength you can trust.
Progressive strength and balance challenges build the confidence to move through your day without hesitating first.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Stay ahead of it, together.
A home program and periodic check-ins keep your strength and balance where they need to be, coordinated with your neurologist for the long run.
I have been in the fitness and wellness industry in central Texas for over 35 years. I am very particular about who I refer my clients to. Bret is an excellent addition to my clients’ protocol for achieving their goals. He is professional and knowledgeable and always has a smile on his face.
Shared by Terri C. · Referring fitness professional
Week 1: needed a hand to steady up from the couch
Week 10: walking to the mailbox with more confidence, no wall required
Parkinson’s Disease
10 weeks
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for Parkinson’s.
We can’t treat Parkinson’s itself, and we’re not trying to. What physical therapy does is train the movement underneath it: balance, gait, strength, and the specific daily tasks that have gotten harder. A cause-first evaluation maps exactly where you stand today, and the goal is more confidence and independence in how you move, alongside your neurologist, not instead of them.
No, it’s meant to work alongside your medical team, never in place of them. We coordinate around your neurologist’s plan and your medication schedule, and we’ll always defer to your physician on anything medical. Our part is the movement, balance, and strength side of things.
Most patients notice better balance and steadier steps within 4–6 visits. A full plan runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, typically over 8–10 weeks, and moves into periodic check-ins after that to keep your strength and balance where they need to be. You’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
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Hours
Mon 10 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Tue 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Wed 8 AM–12 PM, 4–7 PM
Thu 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Fri, Sat, Sun: Closed - 512-763-0526 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Same-week appointments available
5.0 · 195+ Google reviews
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time. Most people are on the schedule same week.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Gardner Sports Physical Therapy
- 2329 S 57th St, Temple, TX 76504 (opens in a new tab)
- 512-763-0526
- Fax: 737-237-0793
- bret@gardnersportspt.com
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Mon 10 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Tue 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Wed 8 AM–12 PM, 4–7 PM
Thu 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Fri, Sat, Sun: Closed