Parkinsonism is an umbrella term that refers to brain conditions that cause slowed movements, rigidity, and tremors. These conditions can happen for many reasons, including genetic mutations, reactions to medications, and infections. Parkinsonism refers to several conditions — including Parkinson’s disease — that have similar symptoms and features. However, Parkinson’s disease makes up about 80% of all cases of parkinsonism, making it the most common form by far.
1. Parkinson’s Disease – A brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Symptoms usually begin gradually and worsen over time.
2. Multiple System Atrophy (Atypical Parkinsonism) – A rare condition of the nervous system that causes gradual damage to nerve cells in the brain. This affects balance, movement and the autonomic nervous system, which controls several basic functions, such as breathing, digestion and bladder control.
3. Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (Atypical Parkinsonism) – A rare neurological disorder that affects your body movements, walking and balance, and eye movement. It results from damage to nerve cells in areas of the brain that control thinking and body movement.
4. Lewy body Dementia (Atypical Parkinsonism) – A disease associated with abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. These deposits, called Lewy bodies, affect chemicals in the brain whose changes, in turn, can lead to problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood.
5. Corticobasal Degeneration (Atypical Parkinsonism) – A form of frontotemporal degeneration, a dementia that involves the loss of cognitive functions such as the ability to think, remember, or reason to the point that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities.
6. Drug-induced Parkinsonism (Secondary Parkinsonism) – The second most prevalent cause of secondary Parkinsonism. Its symptoms, which include tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and gait disturbance, are very similar to those of Parkinson’s disease.
7. Vascular Parkinsonism (Secondary Parkinsonism) – A condition which presents with the clinical features of parkinsonism that are presumably caused by cerebrovascular disease. It is classically described as symmetrical lower-body parkinsonism with gait unsteadiness and absence of tremors and is usually associated with pyramidal signs.
8. Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (Secondary Parkinsonism) – An abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s ventricles (cavities). It occurs if the normal flow of CSF throughout the brain and spinal cord is blocked in some way. This causes the ventricles to enlarge, putting pressure on the brain.
9. Functional Movement Disorder (Other) – Abnormalities of movement that are altered by distraction or nonphysiologic maneuvers, and are clinically incompatible with movement disorders associated with neurologic disease.
10. Essential Tremor (Related Disorder) – A common movement disorder that involves a tremor (unwanted and uncontrolled shaking) in both hands and arms during action and when standing still. It also may affect your head and voice and how you walk.
