Delivered through a new partnership between national charity\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s Care and Support UK<\/a>\u00a0and the University, the Centre will offer innovative forms of neurostimulation along with free access to long-standing, non-drug therapies such as physiotherapy and psychotherapy when it opens in Spring 2022.<\/p>\n An estimated 2,000 people will visit the Centre during its inaugural year, with its integrated approach filling a much-needed gap in the support options currently available. Covering clinical, research and education delivery, the Centre will also serve as a community hub for people with Parkinson\u2019s and their families.<\/p>\n Pioneering research into therapeutic neurostimulation at the University \u2013 using headsets that stimulate the inner ear from the outside \u2013 has already shown huge potential benefits. Volunteer participants have so far reported better mobility, memory, increased independence and reduced anxiety and depression after short periods of self-administered, home-based treatment.<\/p>\n Ahead of launching, Parkinson\u2019s Care and Support UK and the University need to raise \u00a3400k to support the vital work of the Centre, with the funds enabling free access to the stimulation therapy and to established non-drug therapies that help reduce the disabling symptoms that Parkinson\u2019s drugs struggle to reach. There are a number of ways to support this appeal, with more information available\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Gordon, Chief Executive of Parkinson\u2019s Care and Support UK, said: \u2018Parkinson\u2019s disease is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, with diagnosis rates set to double by 2065. There is no cure for Parkinson\u2019s and so it is paramount that more efforts are made so that people can live better for longer. I\u2019m passionate about improving the quality of life for people living with the condition \u2013 the new Centre will be at the heart of this, and ensure that as many people as possible have access to a service that could have truly life-changing benefits.\u2019<\/p>\n Professor David Wilkinson, a pioneer in therapeutic brain stimulation, said: \u2018We know that demand for non-pharmacological therapies is high but they are difficult to access and rarely available together. My hope is that the new Centre offers something new that can make a genuine difference to the lives of people living with Parkinson\u2019s, and hopefully pave the way for ground-breaking treatments to become part of the mainstream.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr Mohamed Sakel, NHS Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine<\/a>, said:\u00a0\u2018<\/em>Over the last decade, I have seen numerous patients of mine improve with non-invasive neurostimulation after the effects of their specialist rehabilitation programme and drug regimen have plateaued. After just a few sessions I have seen substantial improvements in mobility, mood, sleep and overall quality of life. I strongly support the commissioning of this new Centre which, I believe, will herald a new era of Parkinson\u2019s treatments and provide an invaluable service to people with Parkinson\u2019s disease far and wide.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This new Parkinson\u2019s Centre for Integrated Therapy will be using Kent campus facilities and new ground-breaking research led by\u00a0Professor David Wilkinson. New treatments that could … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66395,"featured_media":3200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3198"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3205,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions\/3205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Elizabeth](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/files\/2021\/07\/Elizabeth-Gordon-Head-and-Shoulder-Picture-768x703-1.jpg\")
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