Falling's not the problem. When I'm falling I'm in peace; It's only when I hit the ground It causes all the grief” -Florence Welch

Went for a long walk today and the "feeling" came, that feeling being one of falling forward, or about to fall forward. There is a "tell" to the symptom, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to describe. I think of normal walking as just a controlled falling. You raise one foot and swing it forward to prevent a fall - then you it again and so on. The tell in the PD condition is a feeling like you are not going to be able to prevent the fall and you have to do something about it.

Since there is not much written about the condition in the PD forums, I wondered if maybe I was imagining the feeling, so I went on the internet, my cyber MD, and found this description of PD walking:

"Walking, as James Parkinson noted, involves a bent-forward posture with shuffling, short steps and reduced swinging of the arms. Sometimes the body's center of gravity gets ahead of the feet's ability to catch up, resulting in the passing 'from a walking to a running pace' that Parkinson described and is known as festination." (http://www.cordingleyneurology.com/parkinson.html)

So, such a condition does exist and apparently, is not that uncommon. Fortunately, at the moment anyway, I can feel it coming on and I use one of the tricks described in an early entry and I am able to ward it off. I finished the 2.5 mile walk with ease.

I am determined not to be known for my falling but rather for my ability to get back up once I am down