Does pd make muscles sensitive to physical activities like lifting things?

[Opt8]

Wonder if anyone with pd has had chiropractic problems? Lifted a heavy grocery bag ended with bad back pains. Now chiropractic visits. Just wonder how sensitive our pd muscles are or is this just an in related situation?

[MBAnderson]

A lot of PWP say that working out in the gym worsens their tremors for a few hours as is my experience. Also, muscle wasting or muscle atrophy from lack of use is not uncommon in some PWP. Looks like the heavy grocery bag was too much of a load for the muscles. I don't know if anything that can be done for that except strength training to include balance and stretching exercises.

[Erniediaz1018]

Agree with Anderson. I'm 49, was a construction laborer for almost 20 years and consider myself in pretty good health aside from the Parkinson's. Since Parkinson's I get worn out quickly, have had lower back pain on and off and cervical radiculopathy which came out of nowhere apparently, but I think all these ills are symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

[dadcor]

IMHO strength and balance training and also stretching help a lot to fight the PD. I do this almost every day by training different muscle groups and feel my body pretty good. No need to do heavy weight lifting as if you are in your 20’s, but muscles must “feel the weight..” That would be enough..

[PDConscience]

Rather than letting a bit of back-pain serve as a possible reason for inactivity, it may be best to be extra aware of form whenever bending/lifting. An interesting link (provided by 'parkie13' a couple days ago) reiterated the noteworthy findings of various recent studies on the issue:

"Weight-bearing [exercise] against gravity itself is a crucial component of life that allows the human body and brain to function optimally.

"Research shows that whenever you’re unable to perform load-bearing exercises, you not only lose muscle mass, your body chemistry is impacted in such a way that your nervous system and brain also deteriorate."

Link: fitness.mercola.com/sites/f...

Bottom Line: Regular activity = Improved health/longevity; Inactivity = the opposite.

[M1tz1]

Just be extra careful to lift correctly so that there is no extra strain on the back. I had spinal surgery a few years ago and was advised to use my leg muscles to help when lifting; also to divide loads if possible.