Parkinson's Disease is considered a degenerative disease of the human brain that affects individuals primarily over the age of 60---while some have experienced onset symptoms as early as their 30's. This movement disorder has debilitating effects that focus on attacking the body's major muscle groups that affects coordination and movement. The Hoehn and Yahr scale is a scale system that is used to determine how advanced the disease is on a Parkinson's patient and is often used to determine the onset of the disease.
Tremor
One of the first signs of Parkinson's Disease in many patients is involuntary tremors. These tremors can be as small as a slight twitch in a thumb or pinky finger. The tremor can come and go or remain constant for weeks or years at a time. It can be noted that most tremors occur when the Parkinson patient is at rest and then the tremor generally subsides when they engage in muscle action or movement.
Rigidity
Often referred to as stiffness; rigidity is a type of early symptom that can be scary and debilitating for the patient. Slowly, the Parkinson's patient muscles begin to stiffen over time and not be as relaxed and free moving as normal. One of the first symptoms may be intense stiff muscles that result in pain when trying to move or relax the muscle. Rigidity is most common in the face and hands but over time can spread to larger areas of the body such as the legs and back.
Bradykinesia
Bradykinesia is another term for slow movements and difficulty in overall movement. In a non-Parkinson's patient, the brain automatically plans out a movement of a body part before it even takes place. With Bradykinesia, the part of the brain that demonstrates movement is halted or delayed, therefore producing a delay. The Parkinson patient may initially see the inability to simply put one foot in front of the next or to move their arm to grip a pen---it could take several seconds, even minutes. Once the patient has engaged in movement they may find it extremely difficult to complete that movement. The reason for this could be the lack of dopamine that the brain produces in Alzheimer patients.
Bad Balance
Initially, early onset of Parkinson's Disease may result in extremely poor or bad balance. Reflexes and muscles are working against each other to create balance and flow of movement. In the Parkinson's patient, unannounced episodes of loss of balance or tripping over each foot is relatively common. Some Parkinson's patients fall unexpectedly and end up hurting themselves further or developing a head or back injury due to the inability to break their own falls.
Parkinsonian Gait
Some patients do not notice early symptoms of the disease until all at once when they try to walk. Some patients initially end up taking on a type of stance or posture called the Parkinson's Gait. This is a type of unsteadiness and clumsiness that occurs when walking or standing. The body may lean forward or backward or may be hunched over. The patient may be forced to take small steps in a shuffling motion in order to reach their destination.
