Clinical manifestations of Parkinson’s disease

  The majority of patients with Parkinson’s disease develop between the ages of 50 and 60, with more men than women. The onset of Parkinson’s disease is insidious and the development of symptoms is slow, starting in one upper extremity and gradually spreading to the ipsilateral lower extremity or (and) the contralateral upper and lower extremity. Most patients have tremor or dyskinesia for several months or even years before it is noticed. The main clinical manifestations are resting tremor, muscle tonicity, reduced movement and postural abnormalities (four main signs).  (1) Resting tremor Not all patients with Parkinson’s disease have this symptom. The typical tremor is mainly in the distal part of the limb, usually starting from one hand, and as the disease progresses, the contralateral limb, head and neck, lower collar, mouth and lips, and tongue can appear. In the early stages, the tremor is mostly noticeable during quiet time and usually does not interfere with normal movements and behaviors; in the later stages, it appears during quiet movements. Severe tremor causes patients to lose the ability to write and eat.  (2) Myotonia can be commonly understood as muscle stiffness, which doctors call increased muscle tone. Increased muscle tone due to Parkinson’s disease is different from that caused by hemiplegia or paraplegia, and is characterized by increased muscle tone in both the extensor and flexor muscles, more pronounced in the flexor muscles. Muscle tone may cause the patient to turn, stand up, unbutton, and other daily movements to become slower and more difficult. Dull facial expressions, difficulty swallowing and salivation, monotonous and slow speech, and small and repetitive voices.  (3) Decreased movement and abnormal posture Decreased movement (less movement): dull expression, less blinking, drooling, patients are slow to perform various active movements in daily life, such as dressing, buttoning, brushing teeth, washing face, tying shoelaces, etc., often sitting still; writing becomes smaller and smaller, speech is low and monotonous; later there may be swallowing difficulties, salivation, choking and coughing when eating.  Abnormal posture and balance: Due to the tonicity of the limbs, trunk and neck muscles, patients develop special posture, head, neck and trunk lean forward when standing, hunchback and stoop, elbow and knee joints are flexed to different degrees; side-bending posture (one high and one low shoulder), unstable posture because of the patient’s ability to adjust the orientation of the body and limbs is impaired. Balance disorders are a serious problem in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The upper limbs are accompanied by reduced or absent movements. Walking faster and faster, inability to stop suddenly, and difficulty in turning.  (4) Easily overlooked symptom group Other manifestations of Parkinson’s disease: including salivation, excessive seborrhea, excessive sweating, constipation, slurred speech, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, depressed mood, swallowing difficulties, wasting, lower limb twitching, breathing difficulties, urinary urgency, decreased sense of smell, and symptoms of autonomic dysregulation such as low libido, phlegm, and upright hypotension. However, the disease generally does not involve the rectal and bladder sphincter muscles and does not cause loss of bowel control. Most of the intellectual and emotional responses are normal.