How to Be an Encouraging Companion to a Friend or Relative with Parkinson’s Disease

Multiple sources list music as a tremendous helper for Parkinson’s patients. One story from CTV News even shows how music has been proven to be therapeutic- transforming a man who was barely able to walk to dancing, “The video, posted earlier this month, at first shows Jennings struggling to walk around his home in Hartshorne, Okla., even with the help of a walker. But when Gunlock [his therapist] started playing music on her cellphone, Jennings’s stride immediately improved. Within a couple of minutes, Jennings was able to let go of his walker and even lead Gunlock in a dance” (Puzic). While music sometimes does not have quite the miraculous results as in Jennings’s case, research has shown it to be beneficial. Try to find an album to listen to together, and if possible go to a community concert for fun.