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> Ran across this news article. Thought you might like to see it. Have any >of you tried a metronome? How did it work? >I love reading your letters on the list! It means a lot to me to be a part >of this community! >[log in to unmask] (Joan Dykstra, PD for 7 years, 55, Eldepryl) > >" LONDON, May 10 (Reuter) - Metronomes can help people with Parkinson's >disease walk better, German researchers reported on Friday. > > Wolfgang Enzensberger and Peter Fischer of the Goethe University Hospital >in Frankfurt studied 22 patients with Parkinson's, which causes shaky >muscles. > > It affects about one percent of all people over 60 and can make it hard >for them to walk. > > ``Patients were tested under conditions of free walk; metronome >stimulation (rate 96 beats per minute); traditional march music; modern march >music (Prokofiev); and tactile stimulation (tapping rhythmically on the >patient's shoulder),'' the researchers wrote in a letter to the Lancet >medical journal. > > The metronome helped patients take longer, less faltering steps. Musical >stimulation was less helpful and tapping the patients on the shoulder made >them worse. > > The researchers said the patients liked the metronome. ``Several said >that they would like to use a portable electronic metronome in their daily >life for critical situations, such as crossing a road,'' they concluded. " This observation may be related to the observations of Tom Riess, who is working in the area of visual and other cues as they relate to gait and related problems in PD. Bob Howard Bob Howard, occasionally knowm formally as: Robert B. Howard 1320 Wisconsin St., Apt. 411 Hudson, WI 5401 CG for Lorraine 76/10+ e-mail <[log in to unmask]> New address as of 5/3/96 Voice phone: (715) 386-3596 FAX: (715) 386-8589 Manual reception, requires phone call.