Parkinsons Disease (PD) is a progressive disease of the brain but the symptoms can be managed with physiotherapy.

With parkinsons, the brain is hypergeared towards the flexor muscles. This causes the body to stoop and curl forwards. Without adequate postural strength, the condition progresses much faster.

Another symptom of PD is distal tremors of the limbs. The tremors exponentially makes it harder for the patient to engage in large movement patterns. This indirectly limits patient’s ability to move at the hips and core.

For parkinsons, the primary driver is from the brain. Especially for this neurological condition, the physical presentation and symptoms of PD further fatigues the neurological system of the body and brain.

In other words, especially for PD, the symptoms further exacerbate the presentation itself, exponentially worsening the entire condition.

Indeed the primary symptom management is medicine but complementing it with physiotherapy can better help to manage the progression of PD.

This sitted exercise is effective in teaching the patient to engage the core and glutes to initiate movements and weight transfer. To do it, attempt to keep the low back straight and lean forwards and backwards in a controlled manner. The idea is to encourage more movements at the hips while taking away movements at the legs. Specifically for PD, this exercise helps the patient to focus away from the tremors.

This exercise can be modified for every patient - the type of tactile guidance and the type of seating position etc.

If your loved ones have parkinsons, a personalised physiotherapy care can greatly optimise their quality of life.

An effective physiotherapy management for parkinsons will include:

- An assessment of the stage and type of parkinsons

- Strengthening of areas of weaknesses which should directly include functional movements

- Exercises that biases the postural muscles while encouraging large movement patterns

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