The next few blogs will delve into three common symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and how the prescription of exercise can benefit. Bradykinesia, Tremor Dominance, Agility Impaired.
Bradykinesia Training and Exercise Physiology
What is it?
Bradykinesia means slowness of movement and speed (or progressive hesitations/halts) as movements are continued. It is one of the cardinal symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), due to the loss of dopamine in your brain, specifically in the basal ganglia. A reduction in the neurotransmitter dopamine results in a loss of movement in which the regulation of normal movement size is varied down and is smaller than what is required for efficient movement. Usually starts as a unilateral presentation in PD.
Exercises specific to Bradykinesia?:
It is most important to focus on high power, high effort, and high amplitude movements during your exercise. Think large, exaggerated movements that are symmetrical. Your exercise program will focus on re-adjusting back to what normal movement should look and feel like. With guidance from an Exercise Physiologist and daily practice, you will find that the exaggeration helps with tasks such as walking, arm swing or even improving in your preferred activity or sport.
Example Exercise: Training entails dual movement planes stepping forward over a hurdle and arms out wide (enhance and exaggerate movement) to work on amplitude and symmetry
Stop squat as shown below, stopping at the bottom of a squat, and exaggerating the throw component for greater amplitude. Men are 1.5x likely to have PD compared to women
Parkinson's Disease Statistics:
More than 200,000 Aussies have PD
Men are 1.5 times more likely to have PD compared to women
10% of the people diagnosed with PD are under age 45
Parkinson's is most commonly diagnosed at 65 years old
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Post Created By Brooke - Accredited Exercise Physiologist.
Prescribe Exercise are your local exercise physiology specialists. We provide exercise rehabilitation to assist manage and prevent injury and chronic disease in the Wollongong and Illawarra area. Our programs will assist to achieve personal excellence, we do this by taking the time to educate and empower you with the highest quality care and exercise best practice available. We genuinely care for our clients and want to make a difference in your life, we will help you to get better and stay better so that you can regain control of your health once again.
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