Symptoms of PD
Parkinson's disease (PD) includes motor and non-motor symptoms.
Motor Symptoms
The four cardinal motor symptoms are:
- bradykinesia: slow movement
- rigidity: stiffness of the arms, legs, or neck
- tremor
- postural instability: balance issues
One must have two of the four cardinal symptoms to have a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
Other motor symptoms (that are related to the cardinal four) include:
- walking or gait difficulty: freezing of gait, festination or shuffling, lack of arm swing
- dystonia
- speech problems: such as hypophonia or soft voice
- swallowing issues: also called dysphagia
Our "Overview of PD" page contains links to good general overviews of these motor symptoms. Plus our "Speech and Swallowing" page contains links to good resources on speech and swallowing dysfunction.
Non-Motor Symptoms
Although PD is classified as a movement disorder, the non-motor symptoms of PD are numerous. Some common non-motor symptoms are:
- depression and other mood problems, such as anxiety and apathy
- cognitive issues
- constipation and other gastrointestinal problems, such as gastroparesis
- fatigue
- hallucinations and delusions (also known as psychosis)
- incontinence (both bladder and bowel incontinence)
- low blood pressure problems (also known as orthostatic hypotension, which can cause lightheadedness or dizziness)
- sleep (including REM sleep behavior disorder or RBD)
- other issues such as pain, sexual dysfunction, and vision changes
Our "Non-Motor Symptoms in PD" page contains links to good general overviews of these non-motor symptoms. Plus we have webpages on the specific non-motor symptoms listed above.
Following are links to the other major sections of the Stanford Parkinson's Community Outreach website:
List of this month's Parkinson's-related webinars from our Stanford PD Community Blog...
September 2021 webinars and virtual events that may be of interest to those coping with PD.
