People with dementia often move slower because brain changes from the disease affect the areas that control movement, muscle strength, and coordination. This slowness shows up in different ways depending on the type of dementia, but it is a common sign that makes daily tasks harder.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the brain’s frontal and parietal areas break down early on. These parts help plan and start movements smoothly. When they degenerate, people have trouble with quick eye movements called saccades, which are key for guiding the body. Slower saccades lead to hesitant steps and overall reduced speed. The basal ganglia and cerebellum, which fine-tune motion, also get hit, causing short or inaccurate movements.[1]
Dementia with Lewy bodies brings even clearer movement issues, much like Parkinson’s disease. Patients deal with stiff muscles, tremors, and slow motions in their arms and legs. Walking becomes unsteady, with balance problems that raise fall risks. These symptoms come from clumps of alpha-synuclein protein building up in brain cells, disrupting signals for smooth action.[5][6]
Vascular dementia, caused by blocked blood flow to the brain, hits movement centers too. It leads to balance shifts and slower walking right from the start. Frontotemporal dementia can slow things down by damaging frontal brain regions that handle initiative and motor planning.[6][8]
Weak muscles play a big role across many dementias. Studies show people with the weakest grip strength face up to 2.8 times higher dementia risk. This weakness links to brain damage like white matter lesions, shared inflammation harming muscles and neurons, and tangled nerve paths for movement and thinking. As dementia worsens, frailty makes motions even slower in later stages.[2]
In advanced dementia, everyone struggles with walking, eating, and basic care without help. Weight loss and infections add to the slowdown. Exercise lack, poor health control, and aging speed up these changes.[3]
Sources
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12745221/
https://www.psypost.org/weak-muscles-linked-to-higher-dementia-risk-in-middle-aged-and-older-adults/
https://www.wellmedhealthcare.com/patients/healthyliving/conditions-diseases/what-are-the-stages-of-dementia/
https://parisbraininstitute.org/dementia
https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/dementia-information/types-of-dementia/dementia-with-lewy-bodies/symptoms/
https://www.elder.org/articles/dementia-care/what-are-the-early-signs-of-dementia/
https://www.medlink.com/news/new-study-establishes-practical-definition-for-rapidly-progressive-dementia
https://www.alzscot.org/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/rarer-forms-of-dementia/
