While most would agree that Parkinson's Disease (PD) poses great issues, individuals who have undergone dopamine replacement therapy would also agree that the treatment is also difficult at times. Drugs like Levodopa are prescribed to individuals who have PD in order to maintain their symptoms, however, the side effects are sometimes seen as just as bad. Common side effects with drugs like Levodopa include: Vomiting, Diarrhea, and Stiffness. The worst side effect though is an increase in Tremors or Dyskinesia. This increase in involuntary movements can often times create more of the issue a PD patient is attempting to solve. With this increase in awareness to Dyskinesia, many studies have been brought forward in an attempt to solve this issue. While most of these studies pointed at different ways to solve these uncontrollable tremors, all of them pointed to one thing in particular...exercise.

Dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) is a form of therapy that sets out to aid movement disorders by adding extra dopamine into the body. The image on the top left shows how a normally functioning body would work. It shows how dopamine is readily available to be absorbed by the receptor cell. The image on the right shows a person with a disease like PD. DRT is based on the thought that if you increase the amount of production in the body, you inadvertently increase the amount of absorption as well. DRT is not for everyone, but science and research has shown it to be a promising therapy for people suffering from a hypodopaminergic conditions.