Angela D'Alessandro, MD

What are some of the specific conditions you treat?

I have clinic expertise and experience in my over 20 years of practice in Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Disabilities, Brain and Spinal Cord Injury, Musculoskeletal Impairments, toe walking, Ehler Danlos Syndrome and muscle tone differences including high and low muscle tone.

What techniques or procedures do you use in your practice?

I conduct a weekly brace clinic with an orthotist where we collaborate and come up with specific braces to treat conditions that include muscle imbalance, hypotonia, weakness, toe walking, flat feet and spasticity. I prescribe physical, occupational, and speech therapies as needed. I also do botulinum toxin injections for spastic muscles in children to improve passive and active range of motion, decrease pain and improve function. As director of our interdisciplinary spasticity clinic, which meets monthly, I help coordinate the collaboration of multiple specialists including neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and physical therapy. In this clinic, the goal is to decrease spasticity and improve quality of life through multiple interventions that are recommended including oral and injectable medications, physical, occupational and speech therapies, orthopedic surgery and neurosurgical procedures such as selective dorsal rhizotomy.

What would you like patients to know about your approach to care?

My approach to care is very interdisciplinary as I am talking to physical, occupational and speech therapists every day about mutual patients; as well as other specialists including neurology, neurosurgery and orthopedics. As a pediatric physiatrist, my goal is to optimize function in all children including all levels of ability.

What inspired you to become a doctor?

I was inspired to become a doctor when I was a child and went to my own pediatrician for care and saw the impact he had on my life and well-being and wanted to devote myself to the best possible patient care for children. After I began in Medical School I spent time in a school with disabled children during a rotation and immediately knew this was the population that I wanted to work with to improve my quality of life.

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Publications

Myoclonic
PM&R journal
2002