During an assessment of a 62-year-old man, the nurse notices the patient has a stooped posture, shuffling walk with short steps, flat facial expression, and pill-rolling finger movements. What do these findings suggest?

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The stooped posture, shuffling walk, short steps, flat facial expression, and pill-rolling finger movements are all found in parkinsonism. Cerebral palsy is dysfunction of a mixed group of paralytic neuromotor disorders of infancy and childhood due to damage to cerebral cortex from a developmental defect, intrauterine meningitis, encephalitis, birth trauma, anoxia, or kernicterus and may present as spasticity or athetosis. The characteristics of cerebellar ataxia include a staggering, wide-based gait; difficulty with turns; and uncoordinated movement with positive Romberg sign. Muscular dystrophy is a chronic, progressive wasting of the musculature, which produces weakness, contractures, and in severe cases respiratory dysfunction and death. Weak pelvis muscles and decreased or absent reflexes are signs of muscular dystrophy.

During an Assessment of a 62-Year-Old Man, the Nurse Notices