Festination is a bitch

Today's rant concerns the centre of gravity for the human body.  This is important, so pay attention.  The center of gravity (aka  the center of mass)is that point at which mass is distributed equally.  Where it is on humans who are standing upright, with arms at their sides, you can fairly safely say the COG is located about 10 inches below the belly button. But the position of the COG moves around and its positions are dependent upon posture and the direction of limbs.  Not quite sure you understand this description of it's location?  Well you can figure out its exact position at any time using this equation

                    ∫R3ρ(r⃗ )⋅(r⃗ −r⃗ com)dV=0⃗

I vow never to use this method!

What use is this little package of information. Well, most of us parkies will develop the familiar parkie gait, which leads to a falling sensation.  You move your feet to counteract this feeling.  This gait is characterized by shuffling of the feet and the torso moving down and forward until the COG is located beyond the torso (outside of he body).  This causes the body to move faster and faster toward the COG, culminating in a fall.  If you feel like you're going to festinate, unless you take counter measures, you will festinate, not a fun experience. If you feel it coming on, sit down and the feeling will pass.  That is the solution to festination.

What is festination in Parkinson?

• In Parkinson's disease (PD), festination corresponds to a tendency to speed up when performing repetitive movements. First described in gait (and then in handwriting and speech), festination is one of the most disabling axial symptoms.(free dictionarycom.)