title: Distinguishing the signs and motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: This review by Carl Clarke, professor of clinical neurology at the University of Birmingham should be read by all nurses working with older people. It helps distinguish Parkinson's disease from the more common essential tremor. Signs of Parkinson's disease include tremor at rest, rigidity on passive movement, slowness of movement (bradykinesia), and poverty of movement. These features are unilateral at onset but become bilateral as the condition progresses.