Parkinson's disease patients experiencing peak-dose dyskinesia redistribute involuntary movements throughout their body to improve motor control

Abstract

In Parkinson's disease (PD), dyskinesia is considered a major side effect of dopamine replacement therapy. Nevertheless, many patients with dyskinesia function adequately. Objective: To study objectively dyskinesia phenomenology in order to understand why or how patients with dyskinesia are still able to perform motor tasks. Methods: Patients with and without dyskinesia, as well as healthy older adults, performed a geostationary task during which they attempted to stabilize a glass of water at eye level. Dyskinesia amplitude displayed by each body segment was extracted from accelerometers, and its distribution among the segments, analyzed. Results: Patients experiencing dyskinesia initially distributed most of their dyskinesia away from the segments directly involved in the task. With time, this distribution shifts back towards the hand. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients developed a strategy of involuntary movement's redistribution to attenuate their functional impact on voluntary movements. However, this strategy can only be maintained for a certain period before "re-emerging" dyskinesia occurs.

Application Research Progress of Neuromodulation Technology in the Treatment of Freezing Gait in Parkinson's Disease

“…It is mainly by placing positive and negative electrodes on the scalp and applying a direct current to stimulate the cerebral cortex and increase the excitability of the cerebral cortex, thereby changing the cerebral blood circulation and further improving synaptic performance [9] . Studies have found that after 1 month of treatment with transcranial direct current stimulation, the frequency of frozen gait episodes in patients with Parkinson's disease is significantly reduced, and the duration is significantly shortened, and overall it has a good application effect [10] .…”