SAR HP 320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Assistive Technology, Spasticity, Speech-Language Pathology

• School: Boston University
• Department: Health Physiology
• Course: SAR HP 320
• Professor: Lowenstein

Document Summary

Neurodegenerative the cells in the cns are affected, it affects motor neurons only. Affects nerve cells in brain and spinal cord. No treatment for it it is only symptom management. Familial, only 5-10% of people will have it. You have a 50% chance of getting als if you fall in the familial category (if someone in your family has it) So not a huge amount of people and money goes where there are numbers. So this is why there isn"t a lot of awareness on this topic (not until the ice bucket challenge). Not a lot of money going into research. Veterans are twice more likely to be diagnosed with als. Motor issues; simple tasks may be impacted. May begin in any motor area; e. g. speech, swallowing, upper or lower extremities. No set course of the disease, so it is not like we can predict future symptom.