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Patients with Parkinson's disease previously confined to the home can now walk more freely thanks to a treatment developed by Canadian researchers.
Photo: Armée.mil
A quarter of patients with Parkinson's disease have difficulty walking as the disease worsens, often freezing on the spot and falling.
The treatment, using electrical stimulation of the spine, has helped restore the movement of patients with chronic Parkinson's disease and has been praised by Parkinson UK for its potential impact on an aspect of the disease for which no treatment is available. 39, had been applied.
Professor Mandar Jog of the University of Western Ontario, Ontario, one of the researchers who developed it, said that the magnitude of the benefits to patients of his new treatment was beyond his dreams most crazy.
"Most of our patients have been suffering from the disease for 15 years and have not been walking with confidence for many years," he said.
"For them, going from home with the risk of falling to the opportunity to go on a shopping trip to the mall and take a vacation is remarkable for me."
Normal walking means that the brain sends instructions to the legs for them to move. It then receives the signals when the movement is complete before sending instructions for the next step.
Professor Jog thinks that Parkinson's disease reduces the signals that come back to the brain – breaking the loop and freezing the patient. The implant developed by his team reinforces this signal, allowing the patient to walk normally.
He was surprised to find that the treatment was durable and worked even when the implant was turned off.
"It's a completely different rehab therapy," he said. "We had thought that movement problems occurred in patients with Parkinson's because the signals from the brain to the legs did not pbad.
"But it seems to be the signals coming back to the brain that are degrading."
Brain tests have shown that before patients receive electrical treatment, the areas that control the movement do not work properly. But a few months after the start of treatment, these areas have been restored.
Gail Jardine, 66, is one of the patients who benefited from the treatment.
Before receiving the implant two months ago, Gail continued to freeze, and she would fall two or three times a day.
She lost confidence in herself and stopped walking in the countryside in Kitchener, Ontario – which she loved to do with her husband, Stan.
Now she can walk with Stan in the park for the first time in over two years.
"I can walk a lot better," she says. "I have not fallen since the start of treatment, it has given me more confidence and I look forward to doing more walks with Stan and maybe even going there." only".
Guy Alden, 70, deacon of a Catholic church in London, Ontario, is another recipient. He was forced to retire in 2012 because of his Parkinson's disease.
His biggest regret was that it reduced his work in the community, like his visits to prison.
"I had a lot of cold when I was in a crowd or I was crossing a threshold in a mall.Everyone was looking at me.It was very embarrbading," he said. -he says.
"Now I can walk in the crowd.My wife and I even went on vacation to Maui and I needed to use my wheelchair at no time.There were a lot of narrow roads and a lot of (slopes) and I did it all pretty well. "
Dr. Beckie Port, head of research at Parkinson & # 39; s UK, said: "The results of this small-scale pilot study are very promising and the therapy certainly deserves further investigation.
"If future studies show the same level of promise, it could potentially significantly improve the quality of life, giving people with Parkinson's the freedom to do their daily activities."
– BBC
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