Individuals with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson disease and multiple sclerosis need guided exercise. Physical therapists are leading efforts to keep them optimally mobile and healthy for as long as possible.

A woman in her early 50s progresses, with the assistance of her physical therapist (PT), from being "100% dependent on caregivers" after an exacerbation of multiple sclerosis (MS) to regaining a life-changing measure of independence.

For another woman with MS, physical therapy is the difference between getting through graduate school and dropping out.

A senior citizen with stage 5 Parkinson disease (PD)—the disorder's most severe level—is limited to mobility in a wheelchair and told that he has plateaued. After 18 months of physical therapy, however, he can walk nearly 150 feet without an assistive device and participate in group exercise at a PD-specific gym.