Parkinson's Disease and Movement Assessment

What Is a Parkinson's Disease Assessment?

A Parkinson's disease assessment is a specialist consultation to work out whether your symptoms are caused by Parkinson's disease, a related condition, or something else entirely. Our consultant reviews your symptoms, examines your movement and balance, checks your medication, and explains what is happening - so you leave with clarity, not guesswork.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological condition caused by a loss of the nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine [2]. It most commonly shows up as tremor (shaking, often at rest), muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, and changes to walking and balance. It can also cause a range of non-motor symptoms - including sleep disturbance, mood changes, constipation and cognitive difficulties - which are often present long before the more recognisable physical symptoms appear.

Parkinson's disease is not the only condition that can cause these symptoms. A group of conditions known collectively as Parkinsonism can produce very similar features, and telling them apart takes careful specialist assessment. Getting the diagnosis right matters, because it shapes the treatment that follows.

What the Assessment Includes

Your consultation is thorough and unhurried. It typically involves:

• A detailed review of your symptoms, when they started and how they have progressed
• A neurological examination, with specific assessment of tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia (slowness of movement) and gait (your walking pattern)
• Assessment of your posture, balance and falls risk
• A review of non-motor symptoms, including sleep, mood, memory and autonomic function (things like blood pressure and bowel and bladder control)
• A thorough medication review - several common medicines can cause or worsen movement symptoms
• Discussion of any current treatment, how well it is working and any side effects
• Consideration of further investigations, such as specialist imaging where it is clinically indicated

Because movement problems rarely sit in isolation in later life, our consultants consider the full clinical picture - physical symptoms, non-motor features, current medication, and your wider health and frailty - rather than looking at movement symptoms on their own.

Who Should Consider an Assessment?

You may benefit from a Parkinson's disease assessment if you or a family member has noticed:

• A resting tremor in one hand, arm or leg
• Stiffness or rigidity in the limbs or trunk
• Slowness in movement, in getting up, or in starting to walk
• A change in walking pattern, balance or posture
• Reduced facial expression or a reduced arm swing on one side
• Smaller, slower or more cramped handwriting
• Freezing or hesitation when starting to move
• A shuffling walk, or trips and falls that are happening more often

If balance and falls are your main concern, our falls and dizziness assessment looks specifically at why falls happen and how to prevent them. Movement and balance often overlap, and the two assessments work well together.

What to Expect: Your Diagnosis and Management Plan

At the end of the consultation, your consultant will talk you through the likely diagnosis, the treatment options open to you, and a management plan tailored to you. Parkinson's disease is highly individual, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach - your plan reflects your symptoms, your other health conditions and what matters most to you.

Where a diagnosis is not clear-cut, we will explain why, and set out any further investigations or a follow-up review. You will never be left in the dark. A written report is sent to you and, with your agreement, to your GP, so everyone involved in your care is working from the same information.

Family members are welcome to attend with your agreement, and often add helpful detail about symptoms and how they have changed over time.

Why Choose LivingCare for Parkinson's Assessment in Sheffield

Waiting for answers about movement symptoms is worrying - for you and for the people around you. At LivingCare, our geriatric medicine consultants offer specialist assessment of Parkinson's disease and movement disorders at our Sheffield clinic at the Canon Medical Arena, with fast access and no GP referral needed, self-pay.

What sets our approach apart is that we look at the whole person, not just the tremor. Later-life movement problems are often tangled up with medication, other health conditions and frailty, and our consultants are experienced in untangling them to reach an accurate diagnosis and a plan that genuinely helps.

Our Parkinson's and movement assessment is part of our wider geriatric and memory service in Sheffield, so if your needs are broader than movement alone, we can join up the care.

Book your consultation to arrange a specialist Parkinson's disease and movement assessment in Sheffield.

References

1. NICE - NG71: Parkinson's disease in adults: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71
2. NHS - Parkinson's disease: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/parkinsons-disease/