Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Right Arm Swinging - Saga of Stiffness


As with many people dealing with Parkinson's disease, the arm of my affected side does not swing naturally. I must make quite the strange picture. I usually walk quite fast. My left arm soldiers on in fine form with enough momentum to propel me in circles, while the right seems to have forgotten the cadence altogether, standing at attention like one of the Queen's Guards at Buckingham Palace. Recently, it seems to have forgotten how to do a number of things that it would normally. For instance, casually throwing my arm around the shoulders of my wife while out for a stroll on one of these recent cold nights would have been natural and easy only a few months ago. Now it feels as awkward as when I was a 12-year-old in the movies on a first date. Suave and sophisticated I was not. Furthermore, the sudden pain is like someone is wrenching my shoulder out of its socket. It appears that the stiffening is setting in like Jell-O in the refrigerator; imperceptibly slow but nonetheless noticeable from time to time.

Fortunately, the “bradykinesia” (a medical term for slow movement) or “akinesia” (absence of movement) does not affect much else. In some people with Parkinson's this problem can evidence itself in an expressionless face or even "freezing" in place, both constituting awkward and embarrassing social occasions. But for me, this right arm-swinging trouble constitutes nothing more than an inconvenience.

In the great scheme of things, this is hardly a major issue. But, as with the rest of life, learning the little lessons prepares us to take on the big ones. So what can I do about it? This is a question I believe we all need to ask when faced with challenges, in my case related to my mostly silent partner, Parkinson's.

First, when I notice my right arm absentmindedly failing to keep up with the left, I can be more intentional, forcing it to perform its normal duties. Second, I can get back to exercise and stretching (yuck!). Starting tomorrow I will climb back on the exercise wagon that I fall off so easily and regularly. Third, I can see a physiotherapist about doing the right things to offset the onset of stiffness. That I will do in early January. And fourth, despite all of the Olympic fervor and fever in anticipation of the upcoming Winter games here in British Columbia, I can abandon the idea that somehow I need to adopt the pursuit of going "faster, higher, farther".


As I have stated before, most battles begin with how we think about them. We are not defeated when we cannot do what we used to do, only when we cease to do what we can do.

10 comments:

  1. Hey!
    BRADY is actually greek for Slow. Hense why it is infront of everything that is supposedly "slow" in the medical world. Like bradycardia, or bradyphagia which is two symptoms of PD. (Slow heart rate and abnormal slowness when eating.
    Also Akinesia "complete or partial loss of muscle movement" can be explained by anything with the letter A at the beginning of a word means "lack of".
    Dont know if that helps at all. Just learning alot about Nervous System challenges in school right now.

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  2. I love this: "We are not defeated if we cannot do what we used to do, only if we cease to do what we can do". I really think that that's it in a nutshell.

    You have a very positive and powerful voice, and I'm so grateful that you're sharing what you have to say with us.

    Marian

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  3. Thanks for the encouragement. It is a great Christmas gift.

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  4. i can empathise with your comments on lack of arm movement i am 49 and have had parkinsons for six years now,i have a severe tremor in the same arm so i suppose it does know how to move when it wants to which is more than a little annoying as is the fact that my consultant is reluctant to change medication because of percieved side affects,which begs the question which is the lesser of two evils.

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  5. That seems to be the constant debate: drugs with side effects or disease with side effects. In the end it feels like a "Hobson's Choice" (although upon looking that up perhaps it is more of a "Morton's Fork". But maybe we can just be glad that there is a choice, even if we live with the consequences of choosing.
    Bob

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  6. i totally agree bob,its ethier one opr the other,but i think that there is such a wide range of drugs available that it must be a case of trial and error in severe cases,i am so desperate to relieve my symptoms that i am trying to find out about clinical trials.

    alan robertson

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  7. Alan;
    Let's agree that we will not panic. Hope is not just in a cure or alleviation of symptoms. Let's stick together and not let fear gain the upper hand. We can beat this thing one way or another.
    Bob

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  8. thanks for the encouragement bob,it sometimes takes comments from a fellow sufferer to put things in perspective,i have also just recieved an appointment to see another consultant who has a special interest in parkinsons so hope springs eternal again for a while

    alan robertson

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  9. Alan,

    Hope is essential. As Albert Einstein said, "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

    Bob

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  10. My friend Lana has PD and she says riding a stationary bike keeps her less stiff. She accidentally ran into a PD specialist/researcher at a ballgame on vacation and they visited at length and that's what she was told. Started riding hers, and it really helped her.

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