http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...s-doctors.html



The ability to ride a bicycle could hold the key to diagnosing certain forms of Parkinson's disease after doctors found it was far cheaper and more accurate than a battery of tests...




...The team from the Netherlands said those with standard Parkinson's were more likely to still be able to ride a bike, where as those with atypical Parkinson's were not.
Only four per cent of those with standard Parkinson's were unable to ride a bike compare with more than half of those with the atypical form of the condition.

The letter signed by Drs Marjolein Aerts, Wilson Abdo, and Prof Bastiaan Bloem, of the Department of Neurology, in Parkinson Centre Nijmegen, Netherlands, said: “We suggest that the answer to one simple question—‘Can you still ride a bicycle?’—offers good diagnostic value for separating Parkinson’s disease from atypical parkinsonism...



..."This skilled task is probably sensitive to subtle problems with balance or co-ordination, caused by the more extensive extranigral pathology in atypical Parkinsonism. Simply asking about cycling abilities could be added to the list of red flags that can assist clinicians in their early differential diagnosis of parkinsonism.”

This will lead to a battery of similar tests for other "diseases", the "Can you still ____" test, maybe even made into a reality TV show.

I cannot ride a bike, but then I never could as a child either, though I had the chance to learn. Does this mean I always had PD? And yes, currently my PD has the label 'atypical'. It also has the label 'possible' PD even though I am now eight years into treatment and am levodopa responsive. To me this represents some desperation about needing a means to identify sub-types. Why don't they just talk to us instead?

Lindy

Some months ago there was a piece in the NYTimes and on TV about a guy in the Netherlands who was almost level 4 PD, but who could ride his bike just fine. He was a patient of Dr. Bloem, who signed the letter cited above. Dr. Bloem is also in contact with Dr. Alberts of Pedaling for Parkinson's. Interesting....

Wow, what a great find!
Maybe this is the direction healthcare in America needs to take: Simple, Innovative solutions to complex problems.

There are people in the UK also who find walking very challenging but who can cycle. It is very interesting, and sheds some light on PD, but as a diagnostic tool it would have to be proven by more. And where does that leave the atypical people........ still unwell, and out on a limb. More interesting than using it for diagnosis, is just the simple question - why? in such things we may find the answers to PD..............