[lou_lou]

John Beck, M.D., orthopedic surgeon in Anaheim, CA described the importance of posture. He explained that the brain receives 40% of its information about posture from the soles of the feet, 40% from the position of the mandible, and 20% from the spine. “The brain is sensitive to the neuroposture being off by as little as one millimeter from the line of gravity.” “If the posture of the mandible is off, the brain is constantly flooded with information and uses a lot of its available energy dealing with the information.” He then explained in detail how the brain of a patient with PD becomes unable to cope with this flood of information, and unable to control the muscles of the body. “Posture is a reflex. It is automatic. The individual cannot control it. Mother may say stand up straight. However as soon as the person engages in acts of daily living, posture is beyond the control of the person.” He further added, “The brain activates survival mechanisms thinking the body is ready to fall over. The brain’s stress depletes dopamine and other hormones known to be associated with Parkinson’s disease.”

Jerome Lisk, M.D., Board Certified Neurologist
http://www.parkinsonsresource.org/pr...life-symposium

[imark3000]

I am always open to ideas outside the box, bu I still find the ideas presented about posture to be bizzare and not clear.
I agree fully that stress depletes dopamine and I am constantly looking for ways to reduce it as much as possible through life style, diet, drugs and supplements.
much regards.
Imad

Originally Posted by lou_lou

John Beck, M.D., orthopedic surgeon in Anaheim, CA described the importance of posture. He explained that the brain receives 40% of its information about posture from the soles of the feet, 40% from the position of the mandible, and 20% from the spine. “The brain is sensitive to the neuroposture being off by as little as one millimeter from the line of gravity.” “If the posture of the mandible is off, the brain is constantly flooded with information and uses a lot of its available energy dealing with the information.” He then explained in detail how the brain of a patient with PD becomes unable to cope with this flood of information, and unable to control the muscles of the body. “Posture is a reflex. It is automatic. The individual cannot control it. Mother may say stand up straight. However as soon as the person engages in acts of daily living, posture is beyond the control of the person.” He further added, “The brain activates survival mechanisms thinking the body is ready to fall over. The brain’s stress depletes dopamine and other hormones known to be associated with Parkinson’s disease.”

Jerome Lisk, M.D., Board Certified Neurologist
http://www.parkinsonsresource.org/pr...life-symposium

[reverett123]

I consider this a breakthrough in its own right! It is a recognition of a whole new facet of our problem with a lot of implications. Of course we talked about a lot of this a couple o years ago but who is surprised at that

Let's start with the recognition of the importance of the sole of the foot as a sensor. I have long noticed that I do much better bare foot than with shoes or even socks. Here is a reasonable hypothesis.

Have you ever noticed that you can dance across a room when you can't walk across it? Different circuitry! The same circuits that music activates and allows Bob and I to trip the light fantastic

<quote>
“The brain is sensitive to the neuroposture being off by as little as one millimeter from the line of gravity.” “If the posture of the mandible is off, the brain is constantly flooded with information and uses a lot of its available energy dealing with the information.” He then explained in detail how the brain of a patient with PD becomes unable to cope with this flood of information, and unable to control the muscles of the body. <end quote>

We've talked of problems of neural bandwidth and our freezing when it gets overloaded. This is the first plausible explanation that I have seen for it.

<quote>
He further added, “The brain activates survival mechanisms thinking the body is ready to fall over. The brain’s stress depletes dopamine and other hormones known to be associated with Parkinson’s disease.” <end quote>

The two arms of PD's awful embrace are the inflammation of the immune system and the stress hormones of the endocrine system. You have noticed that the stress isn't a big problem in the early years but becomes more and more so as time goes on. The assumption is that we have a general breakdown so sure, we have trouble standing up.

Well, excuse my Fench, but, "Le Boule Puppies!" If our brain is increasingly in a panic as it struggles to cope with the failing of its sensory feedback systems, that represents a major chronic stressor going every moment that we are on our feet and it is flooding our systems with cortisol, adrenaline, aldosterone, and lord only knows what else. This is a deadly brew.

I nominate these fellows for the "Big Piece of the Puzzle Prize".

All joking aside for a moment, if this is born out in the real world, IMHO this is a big as Ldopa 40 years ago.

Originally Posted by lou_lou

John Beck, M.D., orthopedic surgeon in Anaheim, CA described the importance of posture. He explained that the brain receives 40% of its information about posture from the soles of the feet, 40% from the position of the mandible, and 20% from the spine. “The brain is sensitive to the neuroposture being off by as little as one millimeter from the line of gravity.” “If the posture of the mandible is off, the brain is constantly flooded with information and uses a lot of its available energy dealing with the information.” He then explained in detail how the brain of a patient with PD becomes unable to cope with this flood of information, and unable to control the muscles of the body. “Posture is a reflex. It is automatic. The individual cannot control it. Mother may say stand up straight. However as soon as the person engages in acts of daily living, posture is beyond the control of the person.” He further added, “The brain activates survival mechanisms thinking the body is ready to fall over. The brain’s stress depletes dopamine and other hormones known to be associated with Parkinson’s disease.”

Jerome Lisk, M.D., Board Certified Neurologist
http://www.parkinsonsresource.org/pr...life-symposium

[imark3000]

I am sorry that I tryed to follow your logic but couldn't. Every symptom of PD and not only walking or fear of falling is a source of stress.
What practical wisdom or advise can you suggest based on this research?
cheers
Imad

[reverett123]

Originally Posted by imark3000

I am sorry that I tryed to follow your logic but couldn't. Every symptom of PD and not only walking or fear of falling is a source of stress.
What practical wisdom or advise can you suggest based on this research?
cheers
Imad

Imad-
I sometimes have a hard time following me too.
While I have calmed down a little, I still find this to be very interesting. I don't know enough to have a position on these particular folks or even on the TMJ involvement, but I do think the following points are very important-
1) the recognition of the importance of the sole of the foot as the beginning point of the return half of the feedback loop that maintains posture. PD is referred to as a problem with motor function and we often forget that we have to have not only instructions going to the muscle but also reports of action and position coming back to the brain. The recognition by the brain (whether fact or illusion) would certainly trigger a stress response. Consider the stress levels associated with driving a car on a rainy night with a dirty windshield vs a clean one, for example.
2) this could come on slowly over several years and be hardly noticed. How vulnerable are the neurons of the SN to stress hormones?
3) to me this goes a long way toward explaining why we are so stress sensitive in the latter half of PD yet seemingly not in the first half. Rather than viewing it as just one more system succumbing to the onslaught, it may be more accurate to see it as part of the causative force itself.

As for practicle applications, how about "Don't worry. Be happy." ??

[reverett123]

From the Journal of Neuroscience, 15 October 2000, 20(20): 7816-7821;

Recent evidence suggests that prefrontal cognitive deficits may arise from disruptions in forebrain dopamine neurotransmission induced by excessive exposure to cortisol. Glucocorticoid receptors bind cortisol in dopamine cell bodies (Harfstrand et al., 1986) and primate prefrontal cortex (Sanchez et al., 2000). Cortisol-induced disruptions in dopamine neurochemistry have not yet been examined in primates, but treatment with corticosterone or its removal by adrenalectomy alters forebrain dopamine physiology in rodents. Both increased and diminished dopamine levels have been found after treatment with corticosterone in rats (Thomas et al., 1994; Piazza et al., 1996;Lindley et al., 1999). These outcomes may reflect glucocorticoid regulation of dopamine release (Thomas et al., 1994; Piazza et al., 1996), extrasynaptic reuptake (Grundemann et al., 1998), or changes in dopamine metabolism (Lindley et al., 1999). "

Cortisol is the chemical signature of chronic stress. Since we seem to be a hypervigilant group in general (which implies chronic low level stress) this is certain to have some role.

[Floridagal]

I asked the nurse who does my dbs programming several months ago why when i was at my daughters wedding it seemed as though i had NO dopamine at all in my system, despite the fact that i had taken stalevo more than an hour before & it was working. she told me the same thing, that stress depletes/blocks the med. she also said it wasn't my fault. this past weekend i was under a great deal of stress. i thought i was "handling it well" my body knew better and i was freezing, dyskinetic, unable to walk normally. this was with taking meds as prescribed. that has made me really consider what i am subjecting myself to. big red flag. i know about stress relievers, but i get so frustrated, &uptight sometimes over nothing. i guess the lesson here for me is acceptance of my limitations. thanks fg