To celebrate World Parkinson’s Day today, a local gym owner announced he’ll be bringing a new, cutting-edge rehabilitation program to Collingwood this year.
Larry Hall, owner of The Centre, was joined by Dr. Quincy Almeida, a kinesiology professor and director of the Sun Life Financial Movement Disorders and Rehabilitation Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Almeida has been working on the research side of Parkinson’s Disease for most of his career, and has connected a specific type of exercise with improved quality of life and improved motor function in those diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
Almeida and his team have developed Sensory Attention Focused Exercise for Parkinson’s Disease (PD SAFEx). Essentially, this type of exercise uses voluntary actions (such as kicking a ball on a string) to help where more day-to-day motor functions (such as walking) are negatively impacted by Parkinson’s.
“We’re focused on optimizing exercise to make a difference,” said Almeida, who was at The Centre today for Hall’s announcement. “If the legs won’t move because the brain doesn’t tell them to move anymore, is there a way we can think around the system to get the legs to move?”
Parkinson’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, and often goes undiagnosed until there are motor symptoms - the stereotypical symptom is a hand tremor. The motor deficits, as they are called, are a result of deterioration in the basal ganglia, the part of the brain in charge of voluntary motor movements. A Parkinson’s Disease patient will show 50 per cent or more deterioration in the basal ganglia when a motor deficit symptom appears. So, treating the disease is hard because it is often diagnosed late, and stopping symptoms means stopping the deterioration. There is no method for restoring the deteriorated parts of the brain. There are no cases of a person with Parkinson’s Disease going into a state of remission, or recovering from the disease.
In a person without Parkinson’s Disease, there is still deterioration of the basal ganglia with age, though to a lesser extent. That deterioration is lessened further with exercise. So, Almeida has been applying that knowledge to patients with Parkinson’s Disease.
“Shouldn’t exercise be part of the prescription?” asked Almeida.
Currently, the “gold standard treatment” is dopamine by way of medicine, but that becomes less predictable as the Parkinson’s progresses, and it can cause side effects, including balance and motor issues, which are already symptoms of the disease, according to Almeida.
Neither Hall nor his wife Barb suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, and Hall admits not knowing much about it until recently.
He had a close friend who was an orthopaedic surgeon in the GTA, and who lost the ability to perform surgery after a Parkinson's diagnosis.
“I watched him deteriorate,” said Hall.
Another close friend Jim Karn was diagnosed and Hall thought he would see the same thing until Karn participated in the PD SAFEx program.
After that, Hall knew he wanted to bring it to Collingwood. He and Karn formed a group of volunteers, some who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, to create the Living Better program, which officially launched today. And he’s been working with Almeida to bring a Beta Mobile PD SAFEx program to Collingwood. He hopes to get started by September at The Centre Squash and Fitness gym.
“They’re very special people,” said Almeida of Hall and Karn. “They don’t take no for an answer.”
Almeida will be bringing his assistant Ben Norman to Collingwood for preliminary and follow-up testing, and will help the Living Better volunteers learn how to administer the PD SAFEx program. Almeida’s team will then give each participant a report card to measure their improvement, if any, from the exercises they’ve been doing.
“We’re trying to find continuity,” said Hall, adding there are other exercise programs such as a dance class, and some personal trainer-led programs already in use at The Centre by people with Parkinson’s Disease.
“We’re not here to promote or sell a program,” said Almeida. “The idea is research.”
Hall wants to train volunteers and staff at The Centre to one day administer the program locally on a long-term basis instead of just as a Beta program.
“I want to prove that in a community like ours, we can make a difference,” said Hall.
He’s looking for both volunteers and patients for the upcoming trial in September. Volunteers will be trained, so previous experience is not necessary. Anyone interested in participating can call John Harrison, the general manager at the Centre at 705-444-7824.
