Parkinson's

Symptoms

Parkinson's disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. It is caused by the failure of a group of nerve cells in the brain to produce adequate amounts of a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is necessary for smooth, coordinated movement and muscle relaxation. It is not known why the cells cease producing dopamine.

Symptoms often start with an occasional tremor in one finger that spreads over time to involve the whole arm. Other classic symptoms are the slowness of motion (bradykinesia), postural dysfunction and rigidity. About half of Parkinson's patients develop some speech difficulty caused by rigidity of the facial muscles, loss of motor control, and impaired breath control. Depression is often present as one of the first symptoms and is probably partially caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Other physical signs of Parkinson’s disease can be impairment of the sense of smell (in about 70% of patients) or of the vision, including color perception. The patient further may experience changes in sensations of temperature, hot flashes, excessive sweating, and cramps and burning in the legs.

The signs of Parkinson's disease are:

1. resting tremor on one side of the body;

2. generalized slowness of movement (bradykinesia);

3. stiffness of limbs (rigidity); and

4. gait or balance problems (postural dysfunction).

Other symptoms observed in some persons with Parkinson's disease can include:

1. Small cramped handwriting (micrographia);

2. Lack of arm swing on the affected side;

3. Decreased facial expression (hypomimia);

4. Lowered voice volume (dysarthria);

5. Feelings of depression or anxiety;

6. Episodes of feeling "stuck in place" when initiating a step (so called "freezing");

7. Slight foot drag on the affected side;

8. Increase in dandruff or oily skin;

9. Less frequent blinking and swallowing

Few patients experience all of these symptoms and some may experience other signs.

Like some other CNS degenerative disorders, Parkinson's disease begins insidiously. Persons close to the patient may notice the problem before the patient does. The patient's facial expression may appear "depressed" or "apathetic," and the voice may become softer in volume and monotonous in tone. The patient may complain of muscular "weakness" or "stiffness." Involuntary movements, such as tremor or the turning in of a foot (dystonia), may become a problem. The symptoms may be noticed during routine activities, or they may be present only at certain times, such as when the patient is walking or writing.

In the initial stages of Parkinson's disease, many patients do not have movement problems. Instead, they may complain of anxiety and difficulty sleeping. However, signs of motor system dysfunction become apparent on neurologic and physical examination.

Treatment

The GIGER MD^® Therapy is nowadays certainly one of the most effective method in treating Parkinson's disease or other disease as well as lesions affecting the Central Nervous System (CNS). This method is rehabilitating the CNS, unlike many other methods which affect only the periphery. Moreover the mobility of people with Parkinson's disease can be improved at the same time through the GIGER MD^® medical device with greatest success.

The therapy on the GIGER MD^® instrument is a singular method of physio- and neuro-therapy, whose unequaled effectiveness cannot be compared with conventional therapy procedures at all.

The first step in evaluating a patient with problems suggestive of Parkinson's disease is to determine which components of motor control are affected. That means the GIGER MD® Therapy is tailored to the person’s particular condition.

With the GIGERMD therapy particularly equilibrium, space feeling, eye hand co-ordination, tuning of individual parts of the body to each other, muscles (sports club retaining muscles), harmonious and coordinated movements as well as their speed and the sensomotor are trained. The effect of this GIGERMD Therapy is because of an approximation to the original physiological movement sample as well as a normalization of the vegetative like also the higher mental functions. With the program recording can be judged objectively, with which gravity the illness is afflicted and in what respect treatment progress of a patient was obtained.

In Parkinson's disease, tremor typically occurs at rest but may also be present when the arms are raised (postural tremor). Tremor is not a pathognomonic sign because it can also occur with other movement disorders. Conversely, not all patients with Parkinson's disease manifest tremor, so the absence of tremor does not rule out the diagnosis.

The goals of treatment are to alleviate symptoms that interfere with the patient's activities of daily living and to prevent or limit complications as Parkinson's disease progresses and to prevent or slow the progression of the disease. Because of the GIGERMD Therapy this goal is not any longer a theoretic goal. If secondary parkinsonism is suspected, treatment should be directed at the identified underlying cause. Treatment for idiopathic Parkinson's disease should be initiated as soon as the patient's symptoms begin to interfere with routine activities.

Slowness of gait, poor postural reflexes, involuntary movements and orthostatic hypotension contribute to the falls frequently experienced by patients with Parkinson's disease, especially later in the course of the disorder.

Treatment of a Parkinson's patient

http://www.parkinson-hotline.com/