My wife has had PD for 9 years with Postural Instability and Gait Disorder (PIG-D). No perceptible tremor, but problems with stiffness, gait, balance, falling, etc. She had PPN-target DBS early in 2011 in Toronto and that has led to a good deal of improvement. This has mostly been sustained since the surgery with periodic tweaking of the DBS settings.

A problem that still has to a great degree is an inability to sit up straight in a chair for any extended period of time. Sometimes if she is more fatigued the sliding can occur after even a few minutes sitting up. She ends up sliding down in the seat until she has slid to almost a reclining position and then will pull herself up only to have it happen again.

Has anyone on the list experienced this symptom? Are you aware of anything that can be done? Her doctor thought it had to do with core strength and might respond to exercise. I just don't know and have been unable to find anything on the internet that helps me understand the problem better or whether anything can help at all. Any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks in advance,

Howard

Several years before any other PD symptoms I noticed that I kept sliding down if I sat up in bed and also on the sofa and as you describe sometimes minutes after I sat myself up. My mother-in-law had PD and this was something she had done but I dismissed this along with many other little signs as hypochondria. Since being on sinemet this does not happen much.
Certainly Pilates which targets core strength would be helpful if you could find a sympathetic teacher. For example, local to me there is a seated Pilates class

This may not be the same thing, but I find that chairs do not match the configuration of the human body. I am very uncomfortable in a chair, find it hard to sit that way for more than a few minutes, and usually pull my legs and feet up under me and sit on the chair as if I was just getting ready to jump off it. When I have lots of tremors, I shake myself right off the chair, onto the floor.

The Romans had it right - lots of cushions to lounge in, lie around eating grapes; no straight back chairs, no table where you have to sit uncomfortably and try to eat with fork and knife. I eat with my hands as much as possible and avoid 90 degree angles to sit on.

Really - who invented chairs and what were they thinking? Vertical back, horizontal mid-section, vertical legs, horizontal feet. That's not what the human body looks like. It just ain't normal, an us PWP are very big on being normal.

I wish I had a cure for this but I am happy to hear that I'm not the only one with this problem. I am constantly hiking myself back up into a chair to the point that I've considered installing a seat belt... come to think of it... maybe I will. But that wouldn't actually fix the problem just put a band aid on it. I tend to think it's a core strength issue that might benefit from pilates or yoga. I do try to remind myself to straighten up and purposefully breathe in deeply. Or I could try velcro on my chair and my butt.

[QUOTE=madamlash said:
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one

Madamlash perfectly summarizes my whole experience on Neurotalk. I keep finding out that I am not the only one.
I was the first person I ever met who has PD. For the first two years, I did not meet anyone who knew what I was talking about.
Now I know we are legion

As PD affects small muscles first, the minor wriggles and adjustments people normally make get diminished, this is one of the reasons turning in bed can become difficult, or even sitting in a car - making you feel as though you are leaning back too much. Sliding and leaning when sitting are part of the same problem, so exercising core muscles, and generally doing some exercise that works the little muscles will help. Tai Chi, yoga, swimming, walking are good, and I can recommend the John Argue book of exercises too.

I am useless these days at keeping up exercise so I am passing on what I know works for me even though I don't work at it

People's comments were very helpful. I was particularly interested in the John Argue book and DVDs. Has anyone seen/used these? Were they useful?

Howard

fasten a quick release seat belt to the chair and buckle up.

michael