The impact of exercise on the progression of Parkinson's disease
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Parkinson’s disease is an idiopathic movement disorder that occurs as a result of the gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. This progressive deterioration causes Parkinson’s disease patients to experience motor symptoms, such as tremor & bradykinesia, and non-motor symptoms, such as sleep disorders, depression, and anxiety. Though research has been conducted for over fifty years, scientists have not been able to isolate the disease’s primary causes nor find a cure.
The gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease is the drug carbidopa-levodopa. It alleviates the motor symptoms by acting as a supplement to the declining dopamine levels. Unfortunately, as the disease progresses, the efficacy of levodopa begins to fade, making the accompanying side effects, namely dyskinesia and motor fluctuations, unbearable.
Exercise has been found to act as an adjunct therapy to standard Parkinson’s disease treatment, ameliorating both motor and non-motor symptoms, as well as slowing progression of the disease, without the pharmacological side effects. Therefore, clinicians have begun recommending physical activity as part of patients’ treatment plans, even to those at the most advanced levels of disease progression. Unfortunately, though they know exercise will help, many patients choose to remain sedentary due to lack of motivation, and depression, among numerous other barriers. Forced, assisted exercise has been shown to provide the most benefit for patients, helping them to maintain an improvement in symptoms for weeks after physical activity is performed. This paper concludes that exercise needs to be made a prescribed and mandatory part of treatment, in the form of an individualized plan which takes into account each patient’s unique symptoms and abilities. In so doing, patients can overcome their barriers, improve their quality of life, and maintain their ability to perform activities of daily living for as long as possible.