CAPS 401 - Parkinson's Disease: Problem and Solution Proposal

This assignment delves into Parkinson's disease, a progressive nervous system disorder affecting movement. It begins by outlining the disease's symptoms, including tremors, stiffness, and speech changes, and then explores the underlying cause: the loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain. The paper acknowledges the lack of a cure but emphasizes the importance of understanding the disease for potential prevention. The assignment's primary goal is to highlight various aspects of Parkinson's disease, such as symptoms, causes, risk factors, complications, and prevention. It proposes lifestyle adjustments and healthy practices to potentially reduce the risk of contracting the disease, focusing on a targeted population aged 60 and over. The paper acknowledges the limitations of these prevention suggestions, given the unknown primary causes of Parkinson's disease, while aiming to offer practical insights to mitigate the associated symptoms.

Running head: PARKINSON'S DISEASE 1
Parkinson's disease
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PARKINSON'S DISEASE 2
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disorder is a gradual nervous system ailment which affects the patient’s movement.
Signs and symptoms of this disease begin progressively, often starting with hardly perceptible
tremors in only one arm (National Institute on Aging, 2017). Such quivers are the commonest
symptoms, but there are others that include slowing or stiffness of movement (bradykinesia),
rigid muscles, impaired posture and balance, speech changes, and writing changes. Parkinson’s
sickness affects the victim’s brain nerve cells responsible for producing dopamine. When the
levels of dopamine neurons reduce, it leads to anomalous brain activity, causing occurrence of
the aforementioned symptoms of Parkinson's disease ( Mayo Foundation for Medical Education
and Research (MFMER), 2019). Though the causes of this disease are unidentified, various
factors seem to play a role, including: environmental triggers and genetic mutations (Cannon &
Greenamyre, 2012). Though this condition has no cure, medications can substantially relieve its
symptoms.
It is essential to study about Parkinson's disease in order to figure various ways through which it
can be prevented. Although it is incurable, this sickness can easily be prevented by for example
doing regular aerobics and consuming the prescribed foodstuffs (Carvalho, Sá Filho, Murillo-
Rodriguez,, Rocha, Carta, & Machado, 2018). Studying about Parkinson's disorder is vitally
relevant in the field today since it provides the healthcare practitioners with more insight and
possible approaches of curing it. It also creates awareness on the commonest causes of the
disorder and how a vulnerable party can circumvent them. Generally, the primary purpose of a
paper on this topic is highlighting various aspects of Parkinson's sickness such as symptoms,
causes, risk factors, complications, and prevention. Most importantly, it will focus on

PARKINSON'S DISEASE 3
prospective prevention measures. By exploring this problem, I will provide the reader with very
viable lifestyles and healthy practices that can help prevent Parkinson's ailment. Thus, my
primary goal is to offer prospective theories or ideas of curbing occurrence of the disease.
Certainly, this goal is realistic because it simply guides readers on simple life adjustments that
can reduce chances of them contracting Parkinson's sickness.
Alas, the prevention mechanisms that shall be proposed to curb Parkinson's disease will not be
scientifically proven. Since the primary causes of this malady are unknown, it implies that
successful ways of preventing it remain a mystery. Most of the prevention proposals will be
based on researches conducted beforehand that are also not scientifically confirmed. However,
since Parkinson's ailment is associated with several syndromes; the proposed prevention
practices will be targeted to abate them. Even though a given suggestion cannot cure all
syndromes, at least it will be able to relive one or more of them. The targeted population for a
solution to this problem is everybody aged 60 years or over. In most people, Parkinson's disorder
appears at this age. Nevertheless, in 5-10% of the cases, its symptoms are noted earlier
(Carteron, 2018). So, people aged 60+ who are more susceptible to this sickness will highly
benefit from the proposed solutions.

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References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). (2019). Parkinson's disease.
Retrieved September 7, 2019, from Mayo Clini: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
conditions/parkinsons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20376055
Cannon, J. R., & Greenamyre, T. (2012). Gene-environment interactions in Parkinson’s disease:
specific evidence in humans and mammalian models. Neurobiol Dis, 13-20.
Carteron, N. (2018, october 19). Parkinson's disease and its causes. Retrieved Sep 7, 2019, from
MedicalNewsToday: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323396.php
Carvalho, A. O., Sá Filho, A. S., Murillo-Rodriguez,, E., Rocha, N. B., Carta, M. G., &
Machado, S. (2018). Physical Exercise For Parkinson’s Disease: Clinical And
Experimental Evidence. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. , 89-98.
National Institute on Aging. (2017, May 16). Parkinson's Disease. Retrieved September 7, 2019,
from National Institute on Health: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/parkinsons-disease