Parkinson's disease: an early sign in handwriting – micrographs explained

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Parkinson's disease is a condition in which parts of the brain are gradually damaged over many years. You should see your GP if you are concerned that you may be showing signs of Parkinson's disease. Around one in 500 people are thought to be affected by Parkinson's disease, with men slightly more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than women.

Parkinson's UK says:

“You may notice that the way you write words on the page has changed, for example, the size of the letters has become smaller and the words are crowded together. A change in handwriting can be a sign of Parkinson's disease, called micrographia.

However, the charity says it's normal that writing can sometimes change as you get older if you have hands , or fingers, or poor vision.

“Handwriting can change with age, especially if you have stiff hands or fingers, arthritis or other disease, or if you have poor vision.” .

However, small, squiggly handwriting, called micrographia, is characteristic of Parkinson's disease and is often one of the early symptoms.

“In addition to the fact that words tend to , small and crowded, the size of the handwriting may decrease as you continue to write.”

Micrographia is caused by the same processes in the brain that lead to other motor symptoms of the disease.

“In addition, these symptoms – slowness of movements, tremors, rigidity – can make writing difficult.”

The three main symptoms of Parkinson's disease:

• Involuntary shaking of certain parts of the body (tremor)
• Slow movement
• Stiff and inflexible muscles