Aside from dopaminergic medications that increase levels of dopamine in the brain or copy and prolong the effects of dopamine, there are other treatment modalities suggested for Parkinsons disease. It is believed in the past that Vitamin E can help delay or prevent the occurrence of Parkinsons disease. The average age for Parkinsons diseases occurrence usually start at 60 years. However, this theory that Vitamin E helps in preventing Parkinsons disease has no been proven by studies. It is also believed that exercising can be helpful in patients with Parkinsons. With exercise, you can improve your patients muscle strength, help in coordination and balancing abilities, improve bowel function by promoting intestinal movement and function, and overall, improve the patients strength of bones. This will then result to an overall better feeling for the patient, and this will aid in making him maintain and stay in shape, and improve on his performance on executing activities of daily living.

For patients who are not responsive to medications for Parkinsons, brain surgery is sometimes suggested and used. Usually, surgery is done in the late stages of Parkinsons disease. One of the neurosurgical procedures done by doctors on Parkinsons disease patients is called Deep Brain Stimulation. Deep Brain Stimulation or DBS is used to treat disabling neurological symptoms associated with Parkinsons, most commonly the debilitating symptoms, such as tremor, rigidity, stiffness, walking and movement problems. Deep Brain Stimulation uses a surgically implanted and battery-operated medical device called a neurostimulator. This neurostimulator acts similarly to a heart pacemaker. Its primary use is to deliver electrical stimulation to target areas in the brain, usually the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, and globus pallidus, responsible for controlling movement. It also blocks the abnormal nerve signals that cause tremor and other symptoms of Parkinson disease. MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging or Computed Tomography or CT scanning is commonly done before the procedure to specifically locate the brain areas where the electrical nerve signals cause symptoms of Parkinsons disease. A more specific procedure, called microelectrode recording, is at times done by other doctors to specifically monitor microscopic nerve cells and their activity in the brain target area.

Once the device is surgically set in place, electrical impulses are sent by the neurostimulator to the brain, and thus blocking the nerve signals causing the Parkinsons disease symptoms. Deep Brain Stimulation is not the same as with other previous surgical treatments for Parkinsons that destroying microscopic nerve cells. DBS works without damaging healthy brain tissues. After DBS, the patients are still to continue their anti-Parkinsonian medications. It has been observed for most patients after DBS surgery however that there is a considerable drop in their Parkinsons disease symptoms and they are able to reduce their medications dramatically. This reduction in dosage of medications for most patients result in decreased medication side effects too, like dyskinesia or difficulty of movement associated to some very common anti-Parkinsons drugs. As of the present, many scientists study the specific sites of the brain where to surgically place the DBS that could lead to the best results in reducing Parkinsons disease symptoms. Deep Brain Stimulation as a procedure is also currently being researched and studied to determine its safety, effectivity and reliability.