no more shaking for parkinson’s patients

Home Page > About Us > News & Events > News 2010 > No More Shaking for Parkinson’s Patients

No More Shaking for Parkinson’s Patients

Back

The body-spirit connection is taking a giant step forward. New research at Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC) reveals that guided visualization stops or lessons shaking among Parkinson’s patients
The first research of its type has shown that Parkinson’s patients can be treated with guided visualization. In this research, conducted at Rambam, 20 Parkinson’s patients with medium to severe shaking underwent relaxation through guided visualization. All experienced significant easing of shaking, and for most, shaking ceased altogether. The patients reported a reduction in the severity of shaking that lasted from two to fourteen hours.
This research was carried out by Orna Ben-Yakov, director of nursing at Rambam’s Division of Internal Medicine and Outpatient Clinics, together with Dr Ilana Schlesinger, director of the Center for Movement Disorders and Parkinson’s at RHCC. Results of the project recently appeared in the Movement Disorders Journal of the international Movement Disorder Society.

For five years, Orna Ben-Yakov has supervised a support group for Parkinson’s patients. As part of the group’s activities, patients were treated with relaxation through guided visualization. The results amazed both supervisor and patients: “The first time the patients completely stopped shaking we were all in shock,” recalls Ben-Yakov. “It worked like magic. When the patients got up to leave, it was impossible to detect that they had Parkinson’s.” Subsequent meetings yielded the same results. On the basis of these findings, Ben-Yakov and Dr Schlesinger decided to probe further.
Parkinson’s patients from Rambam’s Center for Movement Disorders and Parkinson’s participated in the research. In the experiment, the 20 patients (13 women and 7 men between the ages of 50 to 70) were divided into groups of three to four. For two hours the researchers wrote down the patients’ responses to calming music, self-induced relaxation and guided visualization. During the experiment, the patients’ level of shaking was measured objectively with an accelerometer, a device resembling a watch that contains a miniature computer. Some patients also underwent EEG testing, which shows brain wave behavior. Of the three stimuli, guided visualization was most effective: shaking decreased dramatically for hours. During visualization, 75% (15) of the subjects stopped shaking altogether.
“This is the first time an unconventional therapy has improved symptoms of the disease,” says Dr Schlesinger. “While this is only initial research, we have opened the door. If we can prove the effectiveness of this treatment and implementing it daily, we can greatly improve the quality of life for these patients. The treatment of Parkinson’s is complicated; the possibility of offering a new therapy brings hope.”

According to Orna Ben-Yakov, guided visualization is effective because it leads patients to deep relaxation and reduces tension. “It is like the stage before a dream, when tension drops altogether,” she says. “Guided visualization allows patients to imagine that they have stopped shaking. Then that actually happens.”