Terapia Ocupacional para escrita de pessoas com doen?a de Parkinson/Occupational Therapy for writing of people with Parkinson’s Disease

摘要

Introduction: Manual writing corresponds to a form of communication for the purpose of reproducing information for other people. When well-received, writing is considered an automatic act in which the person performs it without planning the necessary movements. Trauma, injury, and other dysfunctions can alter writing performance, as occurs in Parkinson's Disease (PD). Objective: This study aimed to study the handwriting of people with Parkinson's disease before and after writing and manual skills training. Methods: This work corresponds to the analysis of the data of a pilot study, in which five people with PD participated, all with the dominant right member for writing. Participants underwent five interventions, including assessment and reevaluation. Results/Discussion: The results show that there was an improvement in the legibility of writing and that the clinical symptoms presented by the patients interfered negatively in the performance of manual writing. It is suggested that this treatment proposal be implemented in a longer time and that other outcome measures be incorporated to improve the analyzes. Conclusion: It was possible to notice that there was an improvement in the use of the fine motor skills necessary for the writing performance of the participants, such as improvement in the precision of the traces and fine motor coordination. In relation to writing training, the study points out that the use of visual cues, such as dashes, favors manual writing.