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Parkinson's Disease and Exercise

Written on October 14, 2008

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological movement disorder that effects each person differently. The loss of dopamine in the brain causes slow movement, tremors, shuffling gait, loss of balance, and eventually the inability to care for oneself.

In the early stages of Parkinson's disease, it is difficult to diagnose. There are no laboratory tests that show that a person has Parkinson's. The physician must make a clinical diagnose, it is best to go to a neurologist that specializes in Movement Disorders who is familiar with the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.

A person with Parkinson's will probably notice small things at first and wonder what is happening to them.

For example: one of the first things I noticed was that it was becoming difficult for me to brush my teeth. The coordination of putting the toothbrush in your hand and moving it up and down to brush, suddenly was awkward and became very frustrating. An electric toothbrush helps with this problem.

Turning over in bed becomes a challenge, suddenly you become aware of every part of your body that must cooperate to turn over. Satin pajama's or sheets help with this disability.

Getting out of a car became a laborious event. Each movement being thought out. Only solution I found so far, was my Lexus SUV, I am able to jump out!

Loosing sense of smell was a real disappointment. The scent of my flowers and my favorite perfumes all but disappeared. No solution for this problem.

Holding a glass in an upright position, so you don't spill your drink over the side of the glass. Usually my husband reminds me to hold up the glass when he sees that I am slanting my arm. Tremor and shaking also effect dining habits and handwriting.

One of the most frustrating effects is having a soft voice. The solution for this is practice yelling! Falling down is also a big problem, loss of balance, my knees are quite scarred.

Loss of facial movement and expression. People tell me to smile when I don't feel sad, but my facial muscles are not working as well as they used to. Solution, practice smiling, and using facial muscles.

Parkinson medication can only help a person with PD to a certain extent. The movement disorder neurologist that is my physician says "that exercises is the best thing that I can do for myself". In the spring of this year I felt myself getting week and weary earlier and earlier in the day. Then I started to feel that I was loosing my strength in my arms. A bone density test showed that my bones were deteriorating from osteoporosis. I finally decided to get a personal trainer and start to fight against the inevitable changes of getting older, and from having both Parkinson's Disease and Osteoporosis.

Nicki Anderson's cheerful smile in the ads of the Naperville Sun and good recommendations about the personal care a person gets when they go to "Reality Fitness" motivated me to make a call to meet with Nicki. I had heard she is a wonder woman, who at one time decided she should get in shape, and today she is a great role model for other woman. At Nicki's request I started training with a fabulous trainer, Mary Wagner.

Some of the benefits I have noticed. I am less easily fatigued, when I am exercising 3 times a week. When I have aches and pains my trainer helps teach me different exercises to straighten the areas where I am weak, and then I feel better.

Parkinson's causes stiffness of the muscles, which exercise helps to combat and keep under control. When exercising on my own for the past few years, I kept getting injured. with my trainer I have not gotten hurt.

Research has shown that exercise is good for everyone, and people with Parkinson's can benefit from walking, talking, and using all of those muscles to help avoid a blank stare, freezing in place, inability to get up from a chair, not being able to button your own shirt. Tying shoes, and brushing our own teeth are all tasks I hope to be doing for myself for a long time.

In summary, I am grateful that I have been able to take private exercises lessons, and am looking forward to joining some small group exercises class. I recommend a personal trainer to get you started and keep fighting against the disability that may be sneaking up on you, be it Parkinson's or any other neuromuscular related diseases.