Parkinson's: cycling against freezing
Janine Fritsch is a qualified biologist and medical editor in the team. As a lecturer in a specialist medical publisher, she initially designed, edited and wrote patient guides. In 2001 she switched from traditional book-making to what was then a new world of online editorial offices and helped set up a health portal.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.If suddenly nothing works - freezing is the term used to describe the "freezing" of movements in Parkinson's: patients are no longer able to walk from one second to the next. Surprisingly, however, many can still ride a bike. Researchers have now come a little closer to the reason for this in a study.
With cycling against interfering signals
While walking no longer works when freezing, cycling often remains possible. Researchers led by Professor Alfons Schnitzler from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf wanted to get to the bottom of this surprising result of earlier studies. As part of Parkinson's therapy with a "brain pacemaker", the scientists had the opportunity to measure electrical signals from certain areas of their patients' brains. And those who are responsible for voluntary movements and the memory of movements.
The result: In Parkinson's patients, the researchers discovered an interfering signal that may trigger freezing and that is suppressed by the movements when cycling.
Approach to a new therapy?
Of the 13 patients examined, aged between 50 and 65, five suffered from freezing episodes and eight did not. In both groups, the researchers measured the electrical activity in the brain region when cycling and, in comparison, when walking.
During the movement phase, only the “freezers” showed a narrow signal band at around 18 Hertz, which was influenced more by cycling than by walking, and that the medical professionals regard as a kind of “interfering signal”. Patients who pedaled had less noise in the brain.
"This surprising finding not only brings us a decisive step in understanding the pathological processes of freezing, but also opens up new possibilities in therapy," says Schnitzler.
Cycling brings neurons back into rhythm
The results could explain why cycling has a proven therapeutic effect in Parkinson's disease - for both freezers and non-freezers. For the first time, researchers were able to show that brain signals are also influenced differently by the different movement patterns when running and cycling. In their opinion, cycling brings the activity of the neurons back into the "right rhythm", so to speak.
According to the German Parkinson Society, around 250,000 to 280,000 people in Germany have Parkinson's. The disease usually only occurs at an advanced age, between the ages of 50 and 60. Only about ten percent are younger than 40 when the diagnosis is made. After Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease is the second most common “neurodegenerative disease”.
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