People with Parkinson’s disease often struggle to control their movements.
Sometimes, movement comes to a complete, temporary halt.
As the disease progresses, many patients experience what is known as “freezing”, a state where you suddenly can’t move.
For sufferers, a freezing moment is when you can’t move, although you want to.
It can last a few seconds or up to half a minute.
It could happen if your phone is ringing.
You want to go and answer it, but find yourself unable to move from the spot.
That kind of stuck feeling could also occur at an open doorway or other threshold.
Turning around is another common trigger.
You might want to take something out of a cupboard, but your feet are stuck and you feel glued to the floor while your upper body turns.
In the worst-case scenario, you might fall and suffer a complex fracture.
There are ways you can handle these moments, says neurologist Dr Andrés Ceballos-Baumann from the Schön Klinik in Munich-Schwabing, Germany.
He offers these tips:
One, two, three: To break free from the rigidity, patients can try counting out loud.
“This shifts control of walking from the brain areas that are no longer functioning well to those that are still working properly,” he explains.
Taking a step to the side can help break the blockage.
This aid is also known as an “anti-freezing cane” or “Parkinson’s cane”.
When patients experience a freezing episode, they can flip down a small flap – an extension arm – located at the bottom of the cane onto the floor.
It acts as a visual obstacle that the patient should attempt to step over.
This often interrupts the frozen gait mechanism and allows them to take their first steps.
Some rollators feature a button that projects a laser line onto the floor.
Here, too, the basic idea is that those affected should try to cross this line, and thus, break free from the moment of paralysis. – dpa
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