Comprehensive Care With The Help of Parkinson’s Research

Parkinson’s disease is a slow-progressing, chronic neurological condition that can cause tremor, slowness of movement, stiffness and gait or balance problems.

The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute is a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, serving as a resource for Parkinson’s disease patients and their families. The center’s staff is committed to providing excellence in diagnosis, treatment, research and education for people with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.

See what we achieved in research and patient care last year by downloading the FY22 Parkinson’s Stewardship Report below.

Parkinson’s research connects the mind, body, and spirit

The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center is the most comprehensive center of its kind in the nation. Barrow neurologists and neurosurgeons are world leaders in deep brain stimulation surgery and treatment for managing the symptoms of movement disorders. In addition to surgical treatment, patients are offered a wide range of recreational therapies, such as group exercise classes and art workshops, and educational classes and support groups that benefit the mind, body and spirit.

Thanks to a generous donation from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center is taking its innovative care into the homes of housebound patient utilizing telemedicine through the Lonnie and Muhammad Ali Legacy Care Program. The program brings the same high quality care that Muhammad Ali received to patients throughout Arizona.

Integrating Parkinson’s research and care

In addition to providing integrative patient care, Barrow neurologists and scientists are also conducting revolutionary research. Barrow scientists are currently involved in more than a dozen clinical trials and research studies, making great strides in treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s and working towards halting the disease.

In one groundbreaking study, Ryan Walsh, MD, PhD, is combining the structural MRI that shows tumors or stroke damage with a functional MRI, which shows whether regions of the brain are active or not, and an MRI that measures blood flow through the brain. Comparing data from all three should help uncover the correlations between damage to functional networks, structural networks and blood flow, and lead to better diagnoses, measurement of the disease’s progress, understanding of why someone is responding to treatment and, ultimately, the key to a cure.

Watch Scott’s story below to find out how Barrow’s innovative boxing classes have helped him manage his Parkinson’s symptoms.