World Parkinson's Day is observed on April 11
Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder that leads to shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with walking, balance, and coordination.
As per a report on the Parkinson Disease Statistics, an estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide have Parkinson’s disease.
While age is a clear risk factor of the disease, men are more likely to have this health complication than women.
The World Parkinson's Day is observed on April 11 to create awareness on the health condition and understand the disease better.
What causes Parkinson's disease?
When nerve cells in the basal ganglia of the brain that controls the movement is impaired, Parkinson's condition develops in an individual. Usually these nerve cells coordinate the movement in the body through a brain chemical called dopamine. When these nerve cells become impaired or die out, the release of dopamine is slowed down as a result of which the patient is not able to coordinate walking, balance and other movements which are essential to human beings.
What are the main symptoms of Parkinson's disease?
- Tremor in hands, arms, legs, jaw or head
In this people experience tremors in hands, arms, jaw and also in the head. This tremor is more like an involuntary rhythmic shaking or movement in the body. Tremors or shakiness can also be felt in the chin, lips, face and legs.
While experts say this to be the first symptom of the condition, it persists in almost 80% of the patients. These tremors can be frustrating, but they are not disabling in nature.
- Stiffness of limbs
Stiffness or tightness in the limbs is often seen as a symptom of Parkinson's disease. As per Parkinson's Foundation: "Rigidity, while seldom the main symptom early in Parkinson’s, is experienced as a stiffness of the arms or legs beyond what would result from normal aging or arthritis. Some people call it “tightness” in their limbs. Stiffness can occur on one or both sides of the body and contribute to a decreased range of motion. This can lead to problems with achiness or pain in the muscles or joints affected."
- Slow movement
Since the responsible nerve cells, which regulate the movement in a body, die out leading to Parkinson's disease, the movement of a person slows down. This condition is called Bradykinesia. It is one of the cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
There can be several reasons for Bradykinesia, but it is mostly associated with Parkinson's disease.
- Loss of balance and coordination
During the onset of the disease, the patient falls down often. Due to impaired balance and coordination, the patient loses balance and falls down. With the increase in the risk of falling down, the risk of disability due to the fall also increases. This can have a detrimental effect on the individual. As per a study, frequent falling is caused by postural instability, which is not reversible with dopaminergic therapy.
Other symptoms of Parkinson's disease
Loss of smell, trouble sleeping, stooping or hunching over, dizziness or fainting, low voice are some of the other signs of Parkinson's disease.
Even many experts have linked small handwriting to Parkinson's disease. When a person develops this disease, it will be difficult for a person to write and a change in the writing pattern of the person may change. The person may tend to write clumsily and try to fit more words in a page.
Those with Parkinson’s disease always have a face masked with sadness, even if they are happy from within.
Constipation is also linked to the disease.
What are the risk factors?
Though age is certainly the biggest risk factor, Parkinson's disease is seen often in men. As per a report, men are 1.5 times more likely to have the disease than women. The usual age of onset of Parkinson's disease is 60 years.
If there's a family history of Parkinson's disease, one may experience it in later ages as well. “About 10 to 20 percent of Parkinson’s disease cases are linked to a genetic cause,” says Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins.
Environment also plays a crucial role in this. Health experts have linked use of pesticides, herbicides, detergents, and heavy metals to the occurrence of Parkinson's disease.
Read: Why your COVID test cannot tell the variant you have got