Introduction
The purpose of this modest attempt at a webpage dedicated to helping individuals with Parkinson’s Disease is complicated and multilayered. It may be useful here to give a brief biographical sketch of myself so that one may see where I am coming from.
I was a relatively inactive adult, in terms of exercise, until my late 40s. I was busy enough helping to raise three active sons, rehab a couple of old homes with my wife and raise some critters on a rural gentleman’s farm but I never really exercised much. Then, for reasons I’m not exactly sure of, I decided to start running and after completing a four mile race at the college that I teach at, psychology and sociology, I announced that I wanted to run a marathon!
What was I thinking?
Moving Forward
Two years of dedication to shedding about 50 pounds and logging thousands of miles I was ready and not only completed my first marathon in April 2001 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but went on to even more challenges. I do love challenges. I ran marathons in all 50 states, in under four hours, ran a personal best of 2:56 and sub 3:00 hours three times. I have run over 100 total marathons and ultramarathons including a half dozen 50 milers, one 100 miler, one 100K and at least a dozen 50K races. I also completed four 100-mile bicycle events and one, terrifying sprint triathlon. I practice yoga several times a week, use CrossFit, and love hiking!!
You might say I changed my attitude about exercise.
Then, toward the end of 2019, I developed a tremor in my right hand. It was curious but I did not think too much about it because I could still do everything I did before despite it intruding on my consciousness. Well it did not go away, and I was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona with Parkinson’s Disease. The neurologist was supportive, started me on a regimen of medications and announced to me that I should start exercising because it was a good component of mitigating the effects of Parkinson’s Disease. Apparently, he missed that part of my patient history, but it was right in my wheelhouse! When I got home from my visit, I started doing some investigating and was perplexed that telling someone to exercise without something more specific was fairly useless and, in spite of that, there were few places to actually get some help or guidance on exactly what to do.
Here is where the website comes in.
A Helping Hand
The purpose of this webpage is to give the reader an opportunity to consider what they can do to help themselves! It will be presented at varying levels of ability such as limited mobility, light activity, moderate activity, and heavy activity. After all, Parkinson’s affects everyone differently, each person has their own history of exercise, and some have far less or far more motivation to engage in activity. It is not meant as medical advice but rather as a guide to show the reader what is out there and pique their curiosity.
Experts in different forms of exercise will give some pointers and demonstrations on how to get started. They are not, for the most part, experts on Parkinson’s Disease. Rather, their presentations will be augmented with evidence-based research to support their claims and identify some anecdotal claims that are not supported by research. We will leave the decision about whether you want to try these approaches to you but give you the tools to decide whether it is effective or worth your time and considerable effort. This website will only focus on exercise. That is big enough!!
The reader will be able to contribute to ongoing threads of conversations and give each other the support we all need! Your ideas for future webpage features are always welcome!