In the May 8, 2017 online issue of Parkinson’s News Today, a “Facts You May Not Know About Parkinson’s” article includes the following information – interesting reading!
The types of exercise you choose will depend, to some degree, on the severity of your Parkinson’s disease and your overall health. According to the Parkinson’s Disease Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, the exercises should be varied and incorporate changing directions through unplanned movement, cardiovascular exercise, balance, strength training and rhythmical exercises.
Unplanned and Random Movement
The exercises listed require the person to change tempo and direction regularly. These will challenge a person mentally as well as physically as they require concentration to perform.
• Walking, hiking or jogging
• Racket sports such as badminton, table tennis, squash
• Yoga or Tai Chi
• Outdoor cycling
• Dancing
• Aerobic classes
• Marching with swinging arms
• Swimming in different strokes
Planned and Repeated Movement
These exercises are generally repeated movements that require balance. They can be performed while doing something that challenges a person mentally, such as watching a quiz show or the news, throwing and catching balls, singing, or problem-solving.
• Cycling on a static bike
• Weightlifting using light weights
• Swimming laps in the same stroke
• Slow walking on a treadmill
Members of our Salem and Beverly Strength in Motion classes instructed by Kim Crowley are finding themselves stronger and with better control over their mobility issues. And little wonder about that! Read on to learn about the other kinds of classes Kim is independently involved with locally. We’re so fortunate that she is willing to share her incredible energy, time and knowledge twice a week as one of our Parkinson’s Fitness team of instructors!
Coupled with her active home life as a busy wife and mom, here’s just a peek into a few of the ways Kim teaches elsewhere during the week.
Introduction to Muscle Training, Strength and Stretch, Weight Training, Senior Boot Camp, Small Group Circuit Training and…wait for it!…ZUMBA!
And speaking of Zumba, Kim and colleague Rachelle Bruzzese recently participated in an annual fundraising “Zumbathon” to raise money for Children’s Charities. The money raised this year went to Boston Children’s Hospital and www.GrantBirthdayWishes.org. Over $3,000 was raised!
Way to go, Kim!
Click here for our weekly schedule that includes Kim’s Strength in Motion classes.
There are some people you just DON’T want to under-estimate!
The boxing area provided for our use at the Salem Fitness Center is a great place to work on the benefits of shifting one’s center of gravity and improving footwork, balance, cognitive focus, and general body conditioning…not to mention being able to punch out frustrations on the heavy bags!
To “meet” the instructors, read about the program, find our location, and view a calendar:
click here
After the fun many of us had while bowling during our April mini-fundraiser, one of our class members suggested that the people in our classes might enjoy getting together once a week at the Sunnyside bowling lanes for coffee and the exercise of bowling a string or two.
The lane use is slower on Monday mornings around 10 AM, so we’ve issued a no-reservations-needed invitation for class members to come by for coffee compliments of Sunnyside, and a whole lot of fun. It’ll be a “fun-raiser” every week! Shoe and lane rentals are the bowlers’ responsibilities, as is making new friends and enjoying time spent with the ones already known.
Location: Sunnyside Bowladrome – 176 Water Street, Danvers (same road as Bishop Fenwick High School) – 10:00 AM – Monday mornings.
Questions? Phone Linda Hall at 781-572-5918 or email her by clicking here.
People who attend instructor Dianna Daly’s Balance in Motion classes on Monday’s, Tuesday’s,Thursday’s or Friday’s regularly confirm the benefits of creating fluid and focused all-over body movements to improve balance and strength. Dianna’s professional dance background, her Parkinson’s training, and her welcoming manner make her a creative, fun, and popular class instructor. (click here for class times and locations)
But wait! There’s more to read about the benefits of dance movement!
In the following video from a post in parkinsonsnewstoday.com, dance teacher Pam Kuntz talks about her dance class that’s aimed at people with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.
Kuntz talks with two of her clients about the benefits of the dance class and how being able to move freely makes them feel. As well as the physical and health benefits, the attendees also talk about how great it is to get out and socialize and meet other people who have Parkinson’s disease or other neurological diseases. Once into the site, click on the second picture down and enjoy both the content and the humor they share with one another!
https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2017/03/16/dance-therapy-helping-parkinsons-disease-patients/
We’re pleased to welcome yoga instructor Heather Tharpe to our Parkinson’s Fitness team!
“I began my journey as a yoga skeptic in the early 90’s. It took a few years to find the ‘right’ yoga for me. Once I did, it became my goal to find a way to draw ‘everyday people’ like myself to yoga.”
Participants in Heather’s class will learn basic yoga knowledge, postures, form and breath work, while building physical strength, flexibility and balance necessary to improve movement and posture, loosen tight and often painful muscles, and build confidence.
Comfort and safety are ensured by using a chair, wall, and other yoga props for individual variations and modifications as needed.
This newest weekly program is offered free of charge to participants. Classes are held on Wednesdays from 1:00 – 2:00 PM at the Hamilton Council on Aging, 299 Bay Road, South Hamilton.
Click here for a schedule of all Parkinson’s Fitness programs
Roy Alcalay, MD, assistant professor at Columbia University and medical adviser with the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, states, “For people with Parkinson’s disease, yoga has been shown to increase flexibility and posture, ease stiffness, and possibly improve balance.”
According to Kaitlyn Roland, PhD, and yoga teacher at the Parkingo Wellness Society in Victoria, BC, Canada: “Stooping is common in Parkinson’s disease due to changes in muscle strength and balance. Becoming more aware of posture and strengthening the muscles that hold the body upright improves walking, balance, and even digestion.”
To practice the yoga “mountain pose”:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your back to a wall. If your heels don’t easily reach the wall, keep them slightly forward.
- As you improve, move the heels toward the wall.
- Press into your toes and heels at the same time to engage the arches of your feet.
- Draw your belly button in toward your spine and slightly up toward your ribs.
- Gently press the backs of your hips, lower ribs, shoulder blades, and head into the wall.
- Keep your head in line with your spine and tuck your chin slightly.
Our G.O.A.L. has always been to provide ways for people with Parkinson’s to Go On Actively Living. click here for class locations and times
We’re excited to partner with Josh Freedland, owner of Marblehead’s Brain & Body Performance of Boston, to integrate our ability-based physical workouts that include boxing with Josh’s exercise-enhanced cognitive training that empowers participants with better awareness, mental focus and decision making skills.
Quoting Josh: “Every athlete goes to the gym working on his or her body…but they don’t train their brains – why not?”
While the NeuroTracker system was not created solely for Parkinson’s disease, Josh’s segment of the program will utilize research-driven technologies and specialized combinations of both physical and cognitive training to help “re-wire” the brain, especially in those with neuro-generative medical conditions and declining cognitive function.
Location: Perfect Balance Conditioning, 63 1/2 Jefferson Avenue, Salem
When: Saturdays – 10:00 – 11:15 AM and Thursdays – 1:00 – 2:00 PM
To accommodate members’ schedules, especially those who are still working during the week and wanted a Saturday class, days are interchangeable.
We’re offering a FREE introductory visit! Come try us out!
Our class members are doing just what the doctor ordered – enjoying life! They’re sailing, swimming, fishing, winning golf tournaments, camping, entertaining out-of-town family and friends, sitting in front of the air conditioners and fans…and those are just a FEW of the activities still taking place due to September’s warm days and nights!
We’ve re-scheduled boxing until October. Keep an eye toward emails and blog posts for notifications of the start date!
Our hands and fingers mimicked fireworks exploding all around us…and then turned into raindrops trickling down and creating puddles. Our arms became soaring bird wings…and then moved our bodies as if part of a swim team practicing a variety of strokes. We formed the angles created by a city skyline…and then swayed side to side and in circles as if trees blown by storm winds. We stood and moved randomly about the room…as if on a crowded city sidewalk or inching along in a hallway toward a jam-packed sporting event. We’d move to a verbal cue however we interpreted it, and then quickly transform into something else suggested by the leader. It was as much a session in cognitive training as it was being physically involved.
Improvisation – invention, making it up as you go along, creativeness, imagination.
Under the guidance of our guest, Wake Forest University Associate Professor of Dance Christina Soriano, who visited with us on June 6th from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, our instructors had the benefit of her years of research into the effect of improvised movement on neurological conditions. Among a wide-ranging multitude of credits, she has served as a guest presenter at the Davis Phinney Foundation, and as a panelist at the 2013 World Parkinson Congress on the subject of “Creativity and Parkinson’s Disease.
(visit her web site: http://www.improvment.us/#welcome)
Once again, we’re grateful to Tracy Valletti, Community Relations Coordinator at CareOne in Peabody, for arranging to have us gather in space at their facility on Route 114 across from the North Shore Shopping Mall. It was fun having Tracy join us during the training session…and she also provided refreshments for all of us to enjoy afterward.
We’re looking forward to sharing what we’ve learned with present and future members of both our exercise and movement classes! As you move toward making a decision to visit any of our classes (see the Class Locations page on the web site), let your home become a make-shift dance studio! Put on some music and just let yourself move around in whatever ways provide you with some moments of feeling free and happy! Take those definitions for the word “improvisation” to heart and try it!
