Parkinson’s news and info that caught my eye in 2025
Parkinson’s disease seems to be in the news more than ever. There’s much happening on so many fronts, it keeps my head spinning and my hopes climbing.
As a blogger who writes about the intersection of Parkinson’s disease, exercise, and the outdoors, I try to watch for the latest and greatest info. I can’t say that I read every article that came to my inbox, but many caught my attention last year enough to entice a click out of me.
In this post I list a few stories from 2025 that had meaning to me but are not necessarily the most significant or groundbreaking out there. Maybe you’ll use your own clicking finger on a couple of links. (If you can get that dang digit to stop shaking!) Here we go:
Stem cells to treat Parkinson’s? Hints of success
An NPR story helped make this topic officially national news. The use of stem cells has a history fraught with divisiveness in America. But the therapy is slowly coming back for many reasons, and people suffering from Parkinson’s disease may soon benefit from stem cells.
NPR reported in April that the Food and Drug Administration cleared a stem-cell treatment for a Phase 3 study, the last hurdle before approval. Other studies have shown positive results, according to researchers. Click the button for more.
The latest research on exercise and PD
This wasn’t a published article but is a webinar featuring Northwestern University Professor Daniel Corcos. Corcos is a leading expert on the question of whether exercise can slow Parkinson’s progression. He says his SPARX studies show that high-intensity exercise is doing just that.
Corcos has been featured in dozens of webinars by various outfits, including this one by the Davis Phinney Foundation. One reason I like this particular webinar is that he lays out the difference between high-intensity endurance exercise and interval training, which are two different things with different results.
He says that any type of exercise is beneficial to people with Parkinson’s, but he also explains how to make it the most effective.
Here’s what kills people in the national parks
An analysis by Backpacker Magazine of data from the National Park Service found that an average of 243 people died annually on NPS lands over a 17-year span.
It’s definitely not a happy topic, but I took interest in the story because it reminds me of the perils of outdoor activity even in a place that may feel safe. The writer, quoting a field expert, says that “visitors in the park system often overestimate their own abilities, fail to pack or prepare correctly, and underestimate how much a hard hike can exacerbate underlying health conditions like heart disease and COPD.”
I guess the same would be true for people limited in some way by Parkinson’s disease.
The article lists causes of death by percentages in six categories. It also describes the average victim in national parks (80% are men, for starters).
New way to prevent constipation?
I found a really good source for news about Parkinson’s disease. It’s an online newsletter called, aptly, Parkinson’s News Today, and subscriptions are free.
This article could turn out to be really good news. An estimated 80% of people with Parkinson’s disease battle constipation regularly. (A bad pun perhaps, but constipation is no laughing matter and affects quality of life.)
It explains that a medication used to treat spinal cord signaling issues could help people with Parkinson’s.
Scientists found that without the background activity of a receptor protein that recognizes ghrelin, the so-called hunger hormone, dopamine signaling pathways to defecation can’t properly activate.
I’m pretty sure that means, in part, that everything moves slower with Parkinson’s, including poop.
Tripadvisor’s focus on accessible travel
Last summer, the travel website Tripadvisor announced the creation of a new “hub” for accessible travel. There already are a wealth of articles on the site, including topics like solo travel, finding paved trails in Colorado, and 10 accessible train trips.
The hub has planning resources, editorials and first-person experiences that could interest travelers with any type of disability – particularly those with mobility issues.
The initiative is sponsored by Visit Lauderdale, so you have to get past the related promotional stuff. Tripadvisor itself is a business that wants your business, so there is some muck to click through to get to the good information.
What caught your eye last year? Let me know in the comments!
