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#  Tips to Manage Freezing in Parkinson's Disease 

 

     

   - ###   Transcription   
    
    **Dr. Oksana Suchowersky** 00:00:05  
    Some patients with Parkinson's disease develop problems with their walking, particularly in more advanced stages. For example, when you stand up and first start to walk, or if you come to a doorway or come to a corner where you have to turn around, you may freeze, and that's called freezing.
    
    Music may be helpful. For example, if the individual starts to hum a song, sings to themselves or even counts to themselves, then that rhythm or that music may get their walking going again, and they will be able to walk quite well.
    
    **Dr. Oksana Suchowersky** 00:01:05  
    There's also another interesting phenomenon in PD where individuals who have a lot of problems with their gait may be able to dance to music quite normally.
    
    We have a number of examples where people have a lot of problems with freezing of gait, but as soon as a song that they enjoy comes on, they'll be able to waltz or even polka to the music.
    
    When the music stops, their gait improves for a short period of time. Unfortunately, the effect of this music on walking is transient and goes away after a few minutes.
    
    **Dr. Oksana Suchowersky** 00:01:46  
    In patients who do have problems with freezing of their gait, we think that this may in part be due to a problem with multitasking. For example, if you're walking and you come to a doorway, then your attention is focused on the doorway rather than on walking.
    
    Sometimes, if you can refocus your attention on stepping and getting walking again, that will help with the freezing of gait.
 
 As Parkinson’s disease (PD) progresses, people with PD may experience freezing of gait or “freezing” episodes. Freezing of gait is the temporary, involuntary inability to move. Not all people with PD experience freezing episodes, but those who do have a greater risk of falling. Usually, freezing only lasts a few seconds, but it is one of the more frustrating and dangerous symptoms of PD.

You may not always be able to prevent a freezing episode, but you can recognize when this Parkinson’s symptom may happen and what you can do to minimize injury.

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