Stanford PD Community Blog

The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) held a webinar in November 2021 that featured Teresa Baker, DPT, with the APDA’s Rehab Resource Center.  Dr. Baker emphasized that exercise is essential for anyone living with Parkinson’s disease (PD).  “Exercise” is a planned, structured, repetitive activity that is intended to improve physical fitness.  Dr. Baker described different types of exercises (aerobic training, strength training, flexibility training, and balance training), benefits for PD, intensity levels, and number of times per week the exercise should be done. There is no “right” exercise for people with Parkinson’s.  Everyone’s regimen will differ, depending on overall health, symptoms and previous level of activity.  

The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) held a webinar in December focused on the role and effectiveness of modern medications in Parkinson’s disease (PD) progression, and described two drug therapy approaches. The speaker, movement disorder specialist Dr. Drew Falconer, detailed how contemporary (modern) drug therapy is far superior and preferred in comparison to the classic paradigm for drug therapy.  Dr. Falconer noted that today (modern drug therapy) we have 23 medications to treat PD and 12 of them did not exist five years ago.  Additionally, Dr. Falconer explained the importance of diagnosing PD correctly as many times PD-like symptoms happen to be parkinsonism but not Parkinson’s disease. 

In January 2021, the World Parkinson Coalition (WPC) hosted a webinar on why people with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) are often later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD).  RBD is acting out dreams or moving a lot in the REM stage of sleep.  Normally, during the REM stage of sleep, the body is paralyzed, and with RBD, the paralysis stops working.  Note that sleep walking, talking, screaming is common in the population (one-third), and this is not RBD. 

In mid-November, Parkinson Canada hosted speech therapist Dr. Ianessa Humbert for a webinar on swallowing and saliva challenges in Parkinson’s disease (PD).  She reviewed what normal swallowing is, assessments that can be done of swallowing problems, and treatment.  Dr. Humbert described the risk of aspiration (food or saliva entering the windpipe).  She also discussed drooling and dry mouth.

In early November, the Parkinson Society British Columbia hosted a webinar on Parkinson’s disease (PD) research with Dr. Rebecca Gilbert, the chief scientific officer of the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA).  In this webinar, Dr. Gilbert discussed the funding fellowships and research grants APDA provides, and different areas of research the APDA prioritizes for research.