Table Tennis Offers Powerful Play for Parkinson’s
A novel program at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital and Edgewater Fitness Center is helping people with Parkinson’s disease improve mobility and social connections: ping-pong, formally known as table tennis. The program began in late 2023 as a collaboration between Mike DeBartolo, who has had Parkinson’s for more than a decade, and Linda Egan, the Parkinson’s […]
Restless Nights?
A sleep disorder may be a hidden precursor to Parkinson’s disease Otis Peeples always had vivid dreams. So vivid, in fact, that he regularly acted them out in his sleep. From dreaming he was driving a car to reenacting a Western movie, his movements and behaviors sometimes endangered himself and his wife, Linda. “One day, […]
Putting Treatments into Motion
Parkinson’s disease — a progressive movement disorder — has no cure, but better treatments are giving more hope If you had told Rick Mazursky 13 years ago that he would be working out most days, hitting stickers on a boxing bag while simultaneously spelling words aloud, or balancing on a stability ball while throwing punches, […]
Rolling with the Punches
Steve Hamlin works with his personal trainer at rock Steady Boxing. Photo by James Foster Steve Hamlin’s arms weren’t swinging when he walked, and he was starting to stoop over and shuffle. “I had a lot of discomfort in my back and legs, and I was having a hard time multitasking and remembering what […]
New gene shown to cause Parkinson’s disease
Source: Northwestern University Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a new cause of Parkinson’s disease: mutations in a gene called TMEM230. This appears to be the third gene definitively linked to confirmed cases of the common movement disorder. Scientists provided evidence of TMEM230 mutations in patients with Parkinson’s disease from both North America and Asia. They […]
Rate of progression of Parkinson’s disease hard to predict
Ryan Uitti, M.D., Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla. DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My father is 64 and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s last year. So far his symptoms are very mild, but I’m wondering what the typical progression of the disease is like. I have read that deep brain stimulation is sometimes recommended. When is this type […]