Management of Bradyinesia in Parkinson's Disease - Guidance
Bradyinesia refers to slow movement or slowness in carrying out an activity in Parkinson’s.
Management of Bradykinesia
Medication:
Bradykinesia generally responds well to medication, especially in the early stages of the illness.
But as with any other symptom of PD, degree of Bradykinesia is different for each one with PD: thus the treatment is also very individual.
Physiotherapy:
Exercises to improve quality of movement and increase muscle tone can help with everyday activities.
Occupational therapy:
Occupational therapist can advice a few changes in routine to make the activities fater and more efficient.
Some tips for PwPS to deal with Bradykinesia:
1. Continue your usual daily activities and don’t reduce physical mobility as long as you are able to do so.
2. Engage in daily exercise that have been recommended to keep your muscles strong and flexible.
3. Adjust your daily routine to make it easier to continue on your own.
4. Follow the advice from occupational therapist to make life easier by using helpful devices such as Velcro instead of buttons, elastic waistbands, height-adjusting beds and raised seat cushions, which make it easier to get out of a chair. These techniques will help you do things faster and easier.
5. Maintain a positive attitude – Don’t let the frustration of slowing down hamper your confidence and independence. Manage your time wisely and give yourself nough time to complete your tasks on your own.
6. PwPs find Bradykinesia quite frustrating and disabling at times, but if you try to do the activity faster, you might make more mistakes or it will be clumsy.
Thus it is advised to take your own time to finish the activity at your own pace rather than doing it in hurry.
As Bradykinesia affects the speed and amplitude of movements, focusing on improving the quality of movements by focusing on big, complete, fast and strong movement help in PD.
Push and Pull Exercise:
Due to bradykinsia, actions such as quickly reaching out to the objects, pushing or pulling them with force, etc. Get affected. So let’s work on the same action in following exercise!
1. Push & Pull -Forward
When you are pushing a heavy carton forwards, we use both our hands also along with the force generated by the simultaneous movement of the trunk.
2. Sit erect in the middle of the chair, with both the feet kept apart.
3. Now take your trunk forward with both your arms forward as if you are pushing A heavy box with force forward and say “push”
4. Now from that position imagine that your have to pull a very heavy carton towards yourself. So now make a fist and draw both the arms backward by making a fist in such a way that elbows make 90 degrees angle with the shoulders and say “pull”
5. Repeat this for 10 times
6. Perform 2 sets of this exercise (1st set with normal speed and perform 2nd set faster)
2. Push and Pull – Upwards
Now imagine you are pushing a carton somewhere on top,
1) Take the arms up by straightening the elbows and opening your hands and say “push”
2) From this position, get both the arms towards the body with elbows bent to 90 degrees. and say “pull”
3) Repeat the same exercise for 10 times
4. Perform 2 sets of this exercise (1st set with normal speed and perform 2 nd set faster.
Push and Pull -Side ways
1) Sit erect with the back straight.
2) Now imagine that you have to push the heavy objects present near you by the side.
3) Spread the fingers and straighten the elbows so that both the arms are at the sides and say “push”
4) Now from that position, get both the arms close to the body by making a fist and elbows bent to 90 degrees and say” pull”
5) Repeat the same for 10 times.
6) Perform 2 sets of this exercise (1st set with normal speed and perform 2 nd set faster)
