Gait disorders in Patients with Parkinson's disease

This bachelor thesis deals with problems of the Parkinson's disease (PD). It is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder which is caused by degeneration of pigment cells producing dopamine in the substantia nigra. The lack of dopamine impairs regulating activities of the basal ganglia. That leads to manifestation of the typical symptoms of PD. Knowledge survey briefly describes symptoms, diagnostics and treatment for this disease. This paper focuses on neurolocomotor process, movement control and especially gait disorders which occurs in patients with Parkinson's disease. Problems with walking develops subsequently, progressively limiting patients in their daily activities. Because current medications providing little relieve, physiotherapy plays an important role in ameliorating these symptoms. This thesis describes various physiotherapeutic approaches. It emphasizes necessity of regular exercising which is absolutely essential to slow the progression of the disease and its debilitating effects. Practical part of this work focuses on the efficacy of the therapy on one patient. This man has the typical PD symptoms and freezing and hesitation often happens to him. He has no cognitive deficit which may hinder his ability to cooperate with therapist. This part also evaluate impact of the therapy based patient's..