How to Combat Parkinson's

Parkinson’s is a sensory and autoimmune disease that can affect the ability to perform common, daily activities. It is a chronic and progressive disease, meaning that the symptoms become worse over time. Some of the most common motor symptoms include tremors, stiffness or rigidity of the muscles, and slowness of movement.

Parkinson’s Research over the past decade has shown us that exercise alone can help the overall wellness of a person as cognitive and physical health may decline. But it can be incredibly difficult for Parkinson’s patients to find information on how to properly exercise or even prevent loss of mobility and/or restore motor function. Programs such as BIG, developed by Dr Lorraine Ramig, are very popular with physical therapy but used as a general movement program.

A Typical Exercise program for a healthy person may include: resistance training to improve muscle tone and strength, atonic training to increase cardiovascular health and endurance, and stretching to maintain flexibility and improve posture. This is all recommended for a person with Parkinson’s, as well, but applied with much more focus, a much slower pace, and exaggerated movement repertoire.

ELDOA and SOMA training programs are excellent ways to address the needs of a patient with Parkinson’s. These training programs work macro level movements to help the micro level function, prioritizing the spine. Creating space and flow at each level of the spine opens up neurological pathways for better function and movement. It also continues communications with the areas of the brain that endures the most atrophy. Most importantly, working with the fascia system (the intelligent tissues of the body) directly communicates with the nervous system, the core issue of a nuero-degenerative disease. It’s the fascial system itself that is most important to address when dealing with sensory and motor autoimmune diseases because the neurological system is very much a part of it.

Beach Fitness trainers are highly qualified and trained in the ELDOA and SOMA training programs. We help our Parkinson’s patients learn the movements and explain why each movement is so important. We can even create a program for you to carry out yourself at home. If you have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, call Beach Fitness today to find out exactly how we can improve your movement and daily activities.

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