Physiotherapy in the Monitoring of Elderly Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive and idiopathic condition of the central nervous system, resulting in tonus disturbances, abnormal postures and involuntary movements, where increasing age is the most prevalent factor. Objective: consisted of discussing the role of Physiotherapy in the treatment of elderly people with Parkinson's Disease. Method: narrative literature review, carried out through a bibliographic survey in the health area databases: Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS), Virtual Health Library (BVS) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCIELO). As inclusion criteria for the study, complete scientific articles were collected, published in the health area between 2012 and 2021, in English and Portuguese, covering the proposed topic. Results: it was found that the role of Physiotherapy with Parkinson's patients occurs through physiotherapeutic exercises, such as proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, muscle strengthening, exercises on a vibrating platform, physiotherapeutic protocol, dual task, rhythmic training, aquatic physiotherapy, pilates and breathing exercises. Conclusion: the role of Physiotherapy becomes relevant with the elderly with PD, as it makes it possible to delay the onset of functional impairment, improving balance, gait, breathing, body posture, maintaining muscle activity, therefore, reducing the evolution of the disease and its symptomatology, promoting the performance of daily tasks that provide the autonomy of the parkinsonian elderly.