Pedal Away Parkinson’s
Exercise is good for you
It seems to be generally accepted that exercise is good for you. It
is self evident. Regular exercise improves strength, fitness, mobility
and physiological functioning as well as increasing life expectancy. In
addition to the physical bonuses there are gains to be made in mental
well being. Just one small ‘dose’ of exercise can completely change
one’s mood. One minute you feel down and the next, after a bout of
seated, vigorous shadow boxing, your grim demeanor is transformed into a
smile. With a personal history of half a century of regular running,
the only downsides to exercise I have observed are injury and wear and
tear. Knee problems seem to be a self inflicted occupational hazard for
runners.
Exercise is half the treatment for Parkinson’s?
It is also axiomatic, that the same improvement in general health can
be gleaned by those of us with long-term illnesses like Parkinson’s. In
other words there is no reason to think you should not exercise ‘just’
because you have Parkinson’s unless of course your doctor recommends
otherwise for medical or safety reasons. I would even go so far as to
say that for me, exercise is half the treatment for Parkinson’s. Now,
that is quite a claim. But how do I know? Well, it’s quite simple. If I
stop exercising, I feel worse. I am no scientist but I know enough
about the rules of empirical observation to know that you can’t
formulate a general rule for the whole population from a sample of one.
Exercise might work as a treatment for me, but that doesn’t mean it
will work for you. You hear examples of this kind of erroneous reasoning
every day on chat shows or in put-the-world-to-right bar room politics
when support for a point of view is based on a sample of one. For
example, that ‘smoking never did my Dad any harm and he lived until he
was ninety-seven’ so it’s OK for you. But in the case of exercise and
the treatment of Parkinson’s, I am inclined to take the view of Dr.
Bastiaan R. Bloom of the
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands that “I’m a
strong believer that single cases can provide crucial evidence” .
Surely, this is what advocacy is all about; telling the world how it is
for you. So do you think exercise is half the treatment for you?
Incorporate exercise into your routine
I can certainly recommend it. But that’s OK for me. I have always exercised; it has
been part of my life-time routine and yet after all these years I often
find it hard to get motivated. It is an accepted truth in running
circles that the hardest part about running is getting out of the
door. Once you are out there, you enjoy it and it does you good. But
for those of you who have never exercised, how can I expect you to make
such a massive life-style change to incorporate exercise into your
routine. Surely the incentive is enormous. The knowledge that here is
something you can try which doesn’t involve
filling your body full of drugs, which for some of us acts like a
treatment, should be ample motivation. So, what can you try? The answer
is simple; absolutely everything from simple walking to running, from
dancing to yoga from swimming to tai chi. Choose something you will
enjoy, then make it a habit.
Cycling can improve symptoms dramatically
One sport which has been making the headlines recently,
is cycling. Not only does it make you feel good and generates all the
benefits of exercise, but it seems that it can improve symptoms
dramatically. Not only that, but pwps with severe freezing, slowness of
movement and lack of mobility can, without assistance, once helped onto
a
bike pedal off confidently and perfectly safely. http://youtu.be/aaY3gz5tJSk Dr
Bloem said, bicycling offers patients an opportunity to be symptom-free
while they are riding, to look and feel normal, and to get some real
cardiovascular exercise even when their disease is so far advanced that
they cannot walk. Dr. Bloem said one explanation for the finding might
be that bicycling uses a different part of the brain than walking and
might not be so severely affected by Parkinson’s disease. Or it might be
that the rhythmic pressure of the pedals on patients’ feet cues the
nervous system to allow a
cycling movement. I am of the opinion that the regular rhythmical
asymmetrical action of turning the pedals on a bike, act as a
repetitive cuing trigger, one leg cuing the other; a perpetual motion
demonstration at its best. In addition, forced stationary bicycle
pedaling therapy at a high steady cadence (RPM) has recently been shown
to significantly reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Dr.
Jay Alberts, a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, in a paper presented
in Paris, June 15, 2009, reported that Parkinson’s patients, who were
forced to pedal at a high steady rate (80-90 RPM) showed a 35%
improvement in motor function. http://youtu.be/dJoTYLrm1Ak
Two years ago on our second Pedal for Parkinson’s Lands End to John O’
Groats cycle ride, John, one of our team, astonished the congregation at
York Minster when he had
to process down the isle on crutches. We were guests of honour of the
Mayor and Sheriff at the annual Cycle Service, part of the national
Bike Week celebrations. We could feel the questioning eyes in the
packed cathedral, all enthusiastic cyclists, asking, how John could
cycle a 1000 miles when he couldn’t even walk. But he did. On a bike
he was as strong as the rest of the team.
In summary:
- When I cycle I don’t feel to have Parkinson’s. (a sample of one)
- People who freeze when walking, cycle quite naturally. (Dr. Bloem)
- Evidence shows that regular cycling at high cadence, improves motor function in Parkinson’s patients. (Dr Alberts)
There is little doubt that exercise is good for you, even if you have Parkinson’s and in
particular, cycling seems to offer additional bonuses. Why not try it.
If you don’t feel strong enough or safe enough for a traditional
bike, then pedal on a gym bike.