Today, the main way that people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease are through the diagnosis of a physician. However, the doctor is often only able to ID the disease when it is in its later stages.
According to a recent joint study by clinical researchers at the University of Haifa, comparing the handwriting of sick and healthy patients could be an innovative way to diagnose the disease at an early stage.
The doctor who ran the study, Sara Rosenblum, from the University of Haifa, noted that recognizing changes in handwriting may lead to diagnosing the disease earlier, which could lead to better treatment interventions.
Traditional Means to Test for Parkinson’s
Today, the most common way for a doctor to check for the disease is the use of the SPECT test. This uses radioactive matter to provide images of the brain. However, this test really is not any more likely to properly diagnose the disease than an expert doctor. Also, the SPECT test exposes the patient to radiation.
Studies in the last few years have shown that there are many distinct differences between the handwriting of patients with the disease and those who are healthy. However, most of the studies in the last five years focused just on motor skills used in handwriting. The research did not center on writing that required cognitive skills: signing a check or writing down an address.
Rosenblum noted that Parkinson’s patients have reported that they have noted a change in cognitive skills before they noticed a chance in their motor skills. So, a test of cognitive abilities such as in this study may be able to detect the disease at an earlier stage.
How Research Was Done
Researchers had the subjects write down their names and also provided them with addresses to copy. The subjects were 40 adults, 50% of which were healthy and 50% who were known to have the disease, but before the motor signs were obvious.
Writing was done on a piece of paper placed on an electronic tablet.
An analysis of the writing results showed a major difference between the writing of the healthy and ill patients. Their status was diagnosed correctly in 97.5% of cases. Overall, the patients with the disease wrote with smaller letters, less pressure on the surface and took longer to write. One of the most noticeable aspects was how long the pen was hovering over the paper before the writing of each word.
In the future, it seems likely that these types of writing tests will be used more to provide earlier diagnosis of the disease.
This Adult Weighted Deluxe Universal Holder makes writing easier.
Writing Aids for Parkinson’s Patients
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with this disease and is having some difficulty with writing, there are many excellent writing aids available that will make this task a lot easier. The Steady Write Pen helps to steady your handwriting if you have tremors. And the Adult Weighted Deluxe Universal Holder will help you to more easily grip your pen or pencil for your writing task.
