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More than 40 million Americans--nearly one in seven, and twice as many as those with diabetes--are affected by movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, dystonia, and Tourette’s syndrome. Because symptoms can be difficult to distinguish, many patients feel helpless and frustrated as they visit numerous doctors over the course of many years before receiving an accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia has inaugurated a Movement Disorders Program directed by recently recruited specialists, Tsao-Wei Liang, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and Daniel Erik Kremens, M.D., J.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology. Both are neurologists who have dedicated their careers to the care and treatment of patients with movement disorders.

Movement disorders encompass a variety of neurological conditions that lead to either slowed, involuntary, or excessive movements that can make peoples’ daily lives difficult, if not unbearable. Tremors, imbalance, falls, writhing or twisting postures, and gait disturbances are just some of the many symptoms that make it difficult to perform routine activities such as getting out of a car, bathing, speaking, and feeding oneself. These tasks can be not only physically demanding, but also psychologically daunting as well.

The new program within the Department of Neurology located at the Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience is designed to ensure comprehensive care of patients with Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, tremor, ataxia, dystonia, tics, and gait disorders.

A.M. Rostami, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Neurology at Jefferson, said that he is proud to include a Movement Disorders Program among the list of comprehensive services available through the Department of Neurology. “The Movement Disorders Program is just one example of our ongoing efforts to focus on superior patient care and the treatment of a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases. Under the direction of Drs. Liang and Kremens, the program has the potential to help thousands of patients lead more normal lives,” Dr. Rostami said.

“A large, state-of-the-art, tertiary care facility like Jefferson is the perfect center to develop a program devoted to those with movement disorders,” said Dr. Liang. “We recognize the unique challenges facing these people and plan to offer comprehensive, specialized clinical care, focusing on accurate diagnosis and treatment.”

Dr. Kremens added that the goal is to offer convenient, prompt access to the highest quality patient care. “Patients can be evaluated, diagnosed, and treated with a complete roster of medical, physical, occupational, and psychological therapies. Most importantly,” added Dr. Kremens, “patients will have access to highly trained specialists in the field.”

Among the innovative treatment options available through the program are Botulinum toxin injections for the treatment of dystonia or abnormal muscle spasm, including hemifacial spasm (twitching or spasms of one side of the face), blepharospasm (involuntary blinking), cervical dystonia (neck muscle spasm that causes head rotation or tilt), as well as for spasticity due to stroke, multiple sclerosis, or other chronic neurological conditions.

Patients will also have the opportunity to participate in clinical studies of new therapeutic agents. Drs. Liang and Kremens will collaborate on such trials with established researchers in the University System including Jay Schneider, Ph.D., director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research Unit, and professor of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology at Thomas Jefferson University.

The Department of Neurology’s leading specialists deliver advanced, full-service, comprehensive care for a wide variety of diseases such as Stroke, Epilepsy, Headache, Multiple Sclerosis, and now Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.

To learn more about Jefferson services available for diagnosing and treating Movement Disorders, call 1-800-JEFF-NOW.