Can Parkinson's Disease Cause Leg Pain? How Should Pain Be Treated?

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Pain is the most common and most troublesome non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease, with a prevalence rate of more than 40%, and pain may exist in the early, middle, and late stages of Parkinson's disease, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease.

In the outpatient clinic, I often encounter Payouts with shoulder pain, hand pain, leg pain, back pain, stomach pain, and other pains, which are really maddening. So why do people with Parkinson's disease experience these pains? How to solve it?

Common types of pain in Parkinson's disease

Pain in patients with Parkinson's disease is a complex problem with various manifestations, and there are generally six categories: musculoskeletal pain, neuropathic pain, central pain, drug-induced pain, and other pain.

1. Musculoskeletal pain

Musculoskeletal pain is the most common type of Parkinson's disease-related pain, accounting for about 40% to 70%; it is mainly associated with muscle stiffness and slow movement, accompanied by limitation of limb movement, and manifested as joint and muscle cramps and soreness.

Muscle spasms and tension in people with Parkinson's disease mainly manifest in the neck, arms, paraspinal and calf muscles, while joint pain often occurs in the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. Musculoskeletal pain is relieved with levodopa.

2. Neuropathic pain

As the disease progresses, patients with Parkinson's disease may have long-term symptoms of imbalance in the cervical and lumbar vertebrae, leading to twisting of the body's muscles. It may cause deflection of the spine or lumbar spine, compress nerves, and cause neuropathic pain, manifested as numbness, tingling, coldness, and other paresthesias.

This pain can be determined by routine neurophysiological examination, relieved by physical therapy, and attention should be paid to avoid excessive exercise or poor posture.

3. Central pain

Central pain, also known as primary pain, is thought to be pain caused by Parkinson's disease itself. This type of pain often manifests as burning, stinging, ant-biting, strange, and indescribable neuropathic sensations, and can occur anywhere on the body.

This condition is often associated with dysfunction of the brain. Central pain and Parkinson's disease motor fluctuations were significantly associated with dopaminergic treatment. Central pain can be improved by taking antidepressants.

4. Dystonia-Associated Pain

Pain caused by dystonia is caused by involuntary, continuous twisting movements and postures, manifested as pain from muscle spasms, and is the most severe type of pain associated with Parkinson's disease, accounting for 17% to 40%.

5. Akathisic pain

Akathisia is a clinical manifestation of the off period, which is mainly manifested as restlessness, a subjective inner impulsive action, inability to maintain stillness, and inner feelings of discomfort. It mainly affects the lower extremities and is often relieved by walking.

6. Other Pain

Pain in patients with Parkinson's disease should also be excluded from other causes of pain. Pain in joints should be differentiated from rheumatoid arthritis; back pain should be excluded from ankylosing spondylitis; low back pain should be differentiated from simple lumbar disc herniation, psoas muscle Strain injury, and other phase identification.

How to treat pain in Parkinson's disease patients?

It is recommended to consult a Parkinson's disease specialist first, and take the initiative to tell your doctor when you visit the outpatient clinic. Whether it is shoulder pain, hand pain, leg pain, back pain, stomach pain, etc. in Parkinson's disease, it can be evaluated by a Parkinson's disease specialist first. Look for the underlying cause and decide whether further workup is needed to rule out other lesions or to continue managing pain in the Parkinson's disease specialist clinic.

In addition, pain in the early stages of Parkinson's disease can be managed with medication. For advanced Parkinson's disease, deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery can be used. This method can eliminate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and restore the patient's mobility and self-care ability by implanting electrodes and implanting weak current pulses to stimulate and suppress abnormal signals of Parkinson's neurological symptoms.

In order to relieve the pain of patients with Parkinson's disease, it is often necessary to start from many aspects. In addition to the treatment of Parkinson's disease, physical therapy, painkillers and massage are also a kind of treatment method to relieve pain.