5 Interesting Facts about Parkinson disease Patient Care

Tai chi is a form of exercise that involves meditative breathing combined with slow, smooth and continuous movements that can help reduce risk of falls in patients. Importantly, research shows that tai chi contributes to improving balance in Parkinson’s disease patients but it should be performed under the supervision of an expert.

In addition to movement abnormalities, Parkinson’s disease also impacts the muscle that is related ability to speak, leading patients to have a reduced voice. Speech therapy, therefore, is a way to help improve the communication of Parkinson’s disease patients. The patient has to be made to try to make as much voice as possible from inside their throat. They should try to train in single words at a time and should practice multiple times daily in order to be able to speak more clearly.

Parkinson’s disease patients breath more shallowly and more frequently and experience exhausting and fatigue symptoms. Breathing exercises that involve expansion of the ribs on various levels and training that requires the patient to use their diaphragm to breath by having the patient be in an open space with fresh air and then inhaling fully into their lungs followed by gradually exhaling slowly until it feels that the lungs have been emptied by 3-5 times daily can help reduce the aforementioned symptoms and promoting muscle relaxation.

 

Parkinson’s disease patients might suffer from swallowing difficulty, as can be observed from slower eating behaviors and drooling. Caregivers have to be very careful of choking in their patients, so each patient should also be given a soft or liquid diet that contains all essential nutrients. In addition, because patients often feel constipation, they should eat food that contains fiber like fruits and vegetables to improve their bowel movements.

 

Because Parkinson’s disease patients experience problems associated with reduced cognitive and memory abilities, they should be provided activities to encourage them to make good use of their free time or activities that promote their learning in order to train their brains and help them be alert at all times. These activities can be, for example, math exercises, word guesting games and reading and writing exercises, etc.