CASE SCENARIO- WEEK EIGHT:
A 67-year-old man presents to the HCP with chief complaint of tremors in his arms. He also has noticed some tremors in his leg as well. The patient is accompanied by his son, who says that his father has become “stiff” and it takes him much longer to perform simple tasks. The son also relates that his father needs help rising from his chair. Physical exam demonstrates tremors in the hands at rest and fingers exhibit “pill rolling” movement. The patient’s face is not mobile and exhibits a mask-like appearance. His gait is uneven, and he shuffles when he walks and his head/neck, hips, and knees are flexed forward. He exhibits jerky or cogwheeling movement. The patient states that he has episodes of extreme sweating and flushing not associated with activity. Laboratory data unremarkable and the HCP has diagnosed the patient with Parkinson’s Disease
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Neurological and musculoskeletal pathophysiologic processes that would account for the patient presenting these symptoms
Bhat et al. (2018) depict Parkinson’s disease as a slow but progressing neurological movement disorder that could finally end up causing one to be disabled. As such, the patient is showing stiffness and is having trouble waking up in the chair. The son indicates that his father is having trouble rising from his chair. This is attributed to the degenerative or idiopathic form or process. This is as well a challenge that may be attributed to the suspected cause of Parkinsonism. The degeneration of the dopamine neurons is a clear indication of the condition and this leads to the rise in the excitatory drive in the basal ganglia. As per Hu et al. (2019), this leads to the disruption of voluntary motor control leading to the symptoms such as tremors as recorded by the 67-year-old man.
Any racial/ethnic variables that may impact physiological functioning
There are differences in the way that the Parkinson’s disease affect people of differential racial groups. In USA the condition largely affects the whites, Hispanics, and the Midwest population. The condition has a higher prevalence among the people of white origin who are older than 65 years. Various factors could be blamed on the high rates of the condition among certain ethnicities one of which is the differences among communities on the exposure that one may have with neuroprotection by estrogen…
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