It is important that the patient and the physician use the same terms to describe the motor function they are discussing. Terms which will be used to describe motor function include off, on, freezing, tremor, dyskinesia and dystonia. Off time is when the medication is not working. Off time will include all periods of relative bradykinesia or akinesia as compared to the individual's normal level of motor function. Bradykinesia is a slowness of movement.
Akinesia is complete or partial loss of muscle movement.
Off time includes early morning akinesia and lack of muscle movement experienced before taking the first morning dose of medication. Freezing is also off time. Freezing is the temporary, involuntary inability to move. It is as if one's feet were stuck to the floor. End of dose deterioration, the most common cause of fluctuating motor ability, comes, as the name suggests, at the end of a dose period.