Doctors brainstorm over quality of life for Motor Neuron Disease patients

Bengaluru: Motor Neuron Disease (MND) may not have a medical cure, but doctors and therapists are working ceaselessly to improve the patients’ quality of life.

Indeed, the third annual conference on MND 'Awareness, Care and Management’ at Nimhans on Wednesday stated that symptomatic and supportive treatments help manage the condition better.

The conference aimed to equip therapists to the disease’s scientific background, while also exposing them to practical methods to improve the patients’ quality of life.

While Dr A Nalini from Nimhans’ Department of Neurology gave an overview of MND and Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), physicist-musician Melkote Shankar demoed how music therapy engages interconnections in the brain using videos.

Quoting US-based founder of music therapy Dr Michael Thaut, Shankar said music engages the brain than any other activity.

Dr Selva Ganapathy, senior physiotherapist, Nimhans, explained ways to ease the physical difficulties of MND patients such as using extra sofa cushions, height-adjusted cots, and fall detection.

Doctors and therapists interacted with about 30 MND and ALS patients to understand their issues first-hand.

MNDs are a group of progressive neurological diseases that destroy motor neurons, cells controlling skeletal muscular activities like walking, breathing, speaking and swallowing. They include ALS, progressive bulbar palsy, primary lateral sclerosis, and progressive muscular atrophy.