Parkinson’s Disease Exercise Tips
No two people who have Parkinson’s suffer from all symptoms or the same symptoms. The degree of any given symptom may vary and appear at any time, early- or late-stage. Here two motor control movement symptoms that may be helped with exercise.
Parkinson’s Gait
It is not uncommon for someone with Parkinson’s disease to experience the feeling of running down an incline and not being able to stop. With practice and neurosensory integrational exercise, this technique can be minimized.
What is Freezing?
Many people with Parkinson’s disease experience “freezing” of gait or motion. It is a unique and disabling clinical phenomenon characterized by brief episodes of inability to step or by extremely short steps that typically occur on initiating gait or on turning while walking.
Often, freezing will occur while walking through doorways, at the beginning of a movement (e.g. getting up from a chair, starting to walk from point A to point B) or other situations. When walking steps may become shorter to the point of shuffling. This may ultimately cause one to stop short of a destination, causing balance to be lost, possibly leading to a fall.
Understanding what happens to the body and helping to remain safe and then return to regular gait patterns takes patience and practice.
Balance
Many who have Parkinson’s disease lose their balance. Falling backwards is quite common. Try taking our Balance Profile Quiz, to see if you’re at risk for a fall.
Exercise can enhance neuroplasticity
Wikipedia defines neuroplasticity as “the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.” Exercise, by promoting neuroplasticity, may protect and rewire the brain from further degeneration.
How to counteract Parkinson Symptoms
with alternate movement behaviors
These can be practiced and learned best on a “good day”.
Continue to practice so when and if the symptom appears, your brain will remind you what to do.
- Stop trying to move when you are frozen. Relax the jaw, relax the body by taking deep breaths.
- Step backwards first, then forward.
- Look “through” a threshold, doorway or special configuration where you are freezing.
- Step over something, rather than just taking a step.
- Estimate number of steps it will take to travel a distance.
- Think outside the box and instead of trying to take a step, squat once or twice then try to walk or tap the floor, then walk or step backwards.
- If you find yourself beginning to shuffle, interrupt it by shifting your movement to a sitting or squatting position (also known as sitting in your hips), or try to step backwards then forwards.
- If you feel you may freeze while walking across a room, estimate the number of steps it will take to get you to your destination, then count off as you walk. Try using a metronome.
- For Parkinson’s Gait, practice stop and starts. Begin walking (call out green light, then red light) or stop and do a semi-squat/sitting position three times. Have someone (trainer, companion, etc.) stay close to reduce falling. The object is to drive home the contra action of running away.
- Using resistance bands is an excellent way to modify traditional balance exercises for those who are in the beginning or mid stages of the disease.
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Bob
I am not an athlete, although I’d say that I am more athletic than most of the men my age (I’m 65). It’s been at least four years since I signed up with Lori Michiel Fitness and have two different personal trainers come to my house and lead me through exercise routines twice a week. I have Parkinson’s disease and they’ve tailored the exercises with that in mind.
Each week, I am subjected to exercising different muscle groups, balance and aerobics. My trainers utilize equipment that they bring, along with some of my own. They run me through drills where I have to do two things at once, like walking sideways while tossing and catching a golf ball one in each hand, or balancing on one leg while lifting a dumbbell. They include stretching throughout my routines and for 10 to 15 minutes at the end of the hour. Recently, I have been experiencing a soreness in my neck while playing golf. Not only do my personal trainers have me do special neck stretches at some point in each regular session, I am using these stretches in my regular warm-up when I play golf or whenever my neck becomes stiff or achy to great positive effect.
They know that I play golf so they have me do strengthening that is geared toward that. I swing in both directions using resistance in the form of a gripped rubber hose while twisting my body and pivoting on one of my feet, depending on which way the exercise is going (left or right).They also know that I box as part of a Parkinson’s routine (although this has been curtailed in the age of COVID-19) and run my through punching exercises regularly.
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I’ve had some minor injuries such as a sore knee. Lori’s instructors have adjusted to accommodate the injury and promote recovery by avoiding impact exercises until my knee feels better. Lori is kept informed of my progress, including injuries and communicates with me periodically to see how I am doing. Lori stays in touch whether or not I am injured.
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I have regular sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays. Each session lasts an hour. Each instructor arrives on time to start my session. They lead me through some preliminary warm-ups that get my heart rate up. Then we go into that day’s theme, such as working on hip flexor muscles, to running in place and around the buildings in my Condo complex to doing jumping-jacks and the like. On most days, they run me through weight training that can range from doing isometrics like planks and some yoga-like exercises to working out with weights either standing or on the mat. We do crunches to full sit-ups, bridges with one leg in the air, squats some with extra weights some not. I could go on and on.
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