Last year my mum was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and after finding out more about the condition, it became obvious that I should be using my own soft tissue therapy skills to help manage her symptoms.
Alongside medication, we’ve found regular appointments that involve movement, exercise and massage are beneficial in decreasing pain, addressing postural changes, improving mobility and increasing strength. Encouraged by the apparent & positive effects that soft tissue therapy has achieved with my mum, I am now helping other clients with this condition to achieve a better quality of life.
Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition that affects movement. It occurs when the nerve cells in the brain that produce the chemical Dopamine stop working properly and start to diminish in number. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that sends messages from the brain to control movement.
When the brain is no longer able to produce enough Dopamine to control movement properly, symptoms start to appear. To begin with symptoms may be subtle and it is not always easy to spot the condition. Handwriting may become smaller, everyday tasks such as using cutlery may become harder and there could be gradual changes to posture and gait. As more nerve cells are lost and Dopamine production lessens, problems with movement become worse and other symptoms may start to appear.
There are over 40 symptoms of Parkinson’s, the main ones being a tremor, slowness in movement and rigidity/muscle stiffness, but others include anxiety, speech problems, memory issues, fatigue, dizziness, loss of balance & sleep problems. Some people will experience many symptoms and others very few. Everyone’s experience with Parkinson’s will be unique.
It is not known why people get Parkinson’s but around 145,000 people in the UK live with Parkinson’s and it is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world.
Whilst Parkinson's is not curable, symptoms can be managed with medication; physical activity and physical therapies.
I currently have capacity to take on more clients with the condition, so please do get in touch if you or someone you care about could benefit from soft tissue therapy and you’d like to understand more.
You can also learn more about Parkinson’s at Homepage | Parkinson's UK (parkinsons.org.uk).