When you think you have a disease, you usually get tested. There are all kinds of tests for all kinds of cancers. You can get tested for HIV. But when it comes to Parkinson’s, things aren’t so simple.
“We don’t currently have a test. There isn’t a blood test or a brain scan that can make a definitive diagnosis of Parkinson’s,” says Dr. Rachel Dolhun of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
And that lack of a test means it’s hard to catch the disease early. In 2015 897 people in North Carolina died from the disease. That’s 300 more than the death rate in 2005. But there is a simple way to fight this complex disease, exercise.
“Exercise, in general, is critical for the management of Parkinson’s. It’s one of the things that’s almost as important as the medications you take or the surgery you might have” Says Dr. Dolhun. “There is also evidence that it might slow the progression of Parkinson’s.