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Discovery: The Truth About Parkinson's: Exercise

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07/10/2019 GMT

Exercise

The Truth About Parkinson's

BBC World Service - Discovery, The Truth About Parkinson's, ExerciseSearch BBC

Jane Hill visits a boxing club in the Netherlands to discover the benefits for PD

How does exercise help people with Parkinson’s? Jane Hill visits a boxing club in the Netherlands run by people with PD and asks if it’s ever too late to start exercising?

Can exercise help people living with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative condition, with symptoms such as loss of balance, difficulty walking and stiffness in the arms and legs.

Jane Hill travels to the Netherlands to meet Mariëtte Robijn and Wim Rozenberg, coaches at Rock Steady Boxing Het Gooi and co-founders of ParkinsonSport.nl, a unique sports club ran 100% by and for people with Parkinson’s. It doesn’t take long before a transformation begins to take place in the gym.

Boxing is popular in the US as well, says Professor Lisa Shulman, Director of the Parkinson’s Centre at the University of Maryland. She has been encouraging her patients to exercise for the last 25 years.

Results from over 200 studies suggest that exercise is a good way to empower people as well as having physical benefits such as delaying disability.

In Ghana many people  receive a late diagnosis. Sheila Klufio a physiotherapist at Korle Bu Hospital in Accra works with people to help them deal with some of the more common symptoms such as freezing when walking so they feel more confident to go out.

And it seems all types of exercise can help, Alan Alda and Michael J Fox both box, ballet dancing is popular, walking, cycling  and Tai Chi have benefits and it’s never too late to start. 

Picture credit: Wim Rozenberg at Wimages.nl

Discovery: The Truth About Parkinson's

With diagnosis increasing as we all live longer, what is it like to live with Parkinson's?

Parkinson’s disease is the only long term neurological condition that is increasing globally. The number of people living with the condition is set to double over the next few decades as we all live longer. Estimates suggest that nine million people by 2030 will be diagnosed worldwide.

To many the image of someone with Parkinson’s often is still that of an elderly person who shakes, but as Jane Hill discovers this picture is out of date: there are many symptoms including loss of smell, sleep disturbances, constipation and mood disorders.

In this series Jane looks at what it means to be given a diagnosis of Parkinson’s. She’ll be exploring whether exercise is the best medicine, and be hearing about the latest research into this hugely complicated condition, that (as an ageing population) more and more of us are going to develop.

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