Parkinson's Disease Support Group

Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder often characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement, and in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement. The primary symptoms of Parkinsons are due to excessive muscle contraction, normally caused by the insufficient formation and action of dopamine, which is produced in the dopaminergic neurons of the...

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exercise and tremors

PSullivan
PSullivan
I know exercise is very important with PD and I have been going to the health club... swimming... classes... and a few of the machines that don't bother my knee... but it seems when i have any sort of a good work out when i get home my tremors are off the wall... does this happen to anyone else? i'm going to continue exercising but wondering if i should just shake before i go and take my meds after i'm done... color me confused... paula
deleted_user
deleted_user
I exercise every day and feel the same effect only in a more dystonic way. I'm thinking the work out "uses" up the dopamine somehow and it takes some time to recover. ND
debfromnj
debfromnj
Hi, My tremors and dystonia are always more aggressive during and right after I exercise but then a while after the exercising I have hardly any tremors at all and the dystonia is much relieved. Anytime I do anything different or any kind or stressful situation my tremors become more aggressive.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Definately my tremors worsen post excertion but then feel better later on after couple hours when i replace dopamine lost during excercise, which i think is what is happening. The more you work your muscles the more dopamine is recquired i believe just like Neuro Dammed said.

peace
CMstanding
CMstanding
It depends what kind of exercise I do. Weight lifting and strenous workouts make the tremors worse during and shortly after, but I am usually calmer throughout the day - (most days). And my mental attitude is so much better after workouts. However I am finding a nice pace (4 miles per hour) walk where my arms are able to have a nice swing (usually takes a mile or so for the arm to loosen up and swing properly) lessens the tremors during and for quite awhile after. So what I do now is end my workouts with walking - either outside or on a treadmill and make sure I let my arm relax and swing during the walk. It really seems to calm me down all over.

Now having said that - any unforeseen stress just ramps the tremors all back up again! ggrrr But like I said - mentally I handle everything better with exercise.

I read somewhere that one theory on exercise is that it may help the body use dopomine more efficiently over time. I also read on another site that many people have to up their dosage of medicine right before they exercise but may not need as much later. David Zid (the exercise trainer that works with people with Parkinsons) told me that most of the people he works with have lowered their medication dosages significantly overtime since starting to work out with him.

I think each of us just has to do trial and error to see what works best for us. I know that for me, when I exercise, overall I do better than on the days I don't. I believe that while sometimes it feels like the shaking is made worse for a short period of time - overall it is helping me in the long run so I am committed to keeping it up.