What is Parkinson’s Disease?
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a complex degenerative disease of the brain that affects about 1% of individuals over the age of 65. The disease itself is caused by a loss of neurons in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia, which is responsible for producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine plays an important role in helping us to feel motivated and is often thought of as our internal reward system.
Most people with PD are diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 70 years old after noticing mild symptoms like shaking in one hand or lack of arm swing when walking, that affects one side more than the other.
What symptoms are most common with Parkinson’s Disease?
People with Parkinson’s Disease can experience a range of symptoms and no two people with PD will have the exact same experience. Some of the most common motor symptoms, or movement-related symptoms, people notice are:
- a slowly progressing tremor,
- slower than usual movement,
- smaller than normal movements,
- difficulties maintaining posture and balance
People with PD might also notice changes in mood, sleep, motivation or thinking.
What can PT do for people with Parkinson’s Disease?
If you have been diagnosed with PD, your primary care doctor or Neurologist may have prescribed you medication to help replace or support the dopamine that has been lost.
Another important way to manage the symptoms of your PD and prevent changes in your day-to-day function is to incorporate exercise as part of your regular routine!
Research has shown that exercise in people with PD can:
- increase levels of dopamine in your system
- preserve the cells that make dopamine
- improve quality of life
- improve the effectiveness of any medications you may take
A physical therapist is highly trained in identifying the specific effects that your Parkinson’s Disease is having on your movement and identify the exercise that will be most effective in helping you maintain your function. There are benefits to many types of exercise for people with PD, and your physical therapist can help you find the ones that will be most impactful to your function.
What types of exercise is good for people with PD?
The good news is that there is lots of research showing the benefit of a variety of exercise modalities for people with PD, helping to ensure you can find something that you love! Some examples of activities that might work well for you are:
- Moderate to high-intensity aerobic exercise: This is exercise that gets your heart rate up to a point that feels challenging to maintain a conversation, like hiking, bike riding, or swimming. If you enjoy walking, you can increase your walking speed or add in marching, big arm swings, or larger steps to help keep your heart rate up and make the walk more challenging and beneficial!
- Resistance training: This is exercise utilizing heavy weights or machines to help improve muscle strength.
- Balance training: These are exercises that challenge your ability to maintain your stability in a variety of everyday situations. They can help with mobility, walking and confidence in participating in your favorite activities at home and in the community.
A licensed physical therapist with experience working with people with Parkinson’s disease can be a great resource in selecting the best exercise for you and helping you to create a program that is most appropriate for your current functional level!
Remember, the best exercise for you is the program that you love and will be consistent with!
My most successful clients over the past decade have brought the activities that were most meaningful to their PT sessions to create custom exercise programs addressing the specific activities that were most important to them. Pickle ball is a great example of a challenging task that incorporates balance activities, aerobic exercise and a challenging cognitive component!
Your physical therapist can help you to break down and practice the components of your favorite activity to ensure you have all the resources you need to stay active in the things that mean the most to you.
Are there any resources that can help me manage my Parkinson’s Disease at home?
Finding support from people with similar life experience can be hugely beneficial for people with Parkinson’s disease and their families.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation provides great resources for local and online support groups.
PWR!Moves is an exercise program specifically developed to help people with Parkinson’s Disease by targeting some of the common movement impairments seen in this population. The Shirley Ryan Ability Lab has created an online resource highlighting the basic components of this program and is a great place to start on your own! Videos include demonstrations of both seated and standing exercises, to help you find something that best suits your current abilities:
Helping you maintain your function and independence.
Neurological disorders including Parkinson’s Disease affect the brain, the spine and the nerves that connect them and can lead to loss of movement and function and create an inability to perform certain activities. Our highly trained physical therapists strive to maximize a person’s return to functional independence and an active and healthy lifestyle.
