Minnesota study examining effects with
experimental classheld twice per week.
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Yoga instructor Amy Samson-Burke leads a yoga class for people with Parkinson's disease Aug. 25 at Tarana Yoga Studio in Minneapolis. Yoga instructor Amy Samson-Burke leads a yoga class for people with Parkinson's disease Aug. 25 at Tarana Yoga Studio in Minneapolis.
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MINNEAPOLIS
— It took a while to get to downward-facing dog.
First,
the eight men and women at a recent class at Tarana Yoga Studio in Minneapolis
engaged in “joint warm-ups,” circling their wrists three times in each
direction.
Next,
they carefully moved into standing poses, keeping a chair at the edge of their
yoga mats to steady themselves as needed.
Finally,
their bodies limber, they tilted their hips back with hands and feet planted on
the mat — expertly performing the challenging downward-facing dog pose.
The
minutes ticked. No one flinched.
Held
twice per week, the experimental class is part of a study being conducted by
the University of Minnesota to find out if yoga is an effective tool for
managing Parkinson’s disease.
Corjena
Cheung, a professor at the university’s School of Nursing, said she hopes to
build on her previous research examining yoga’s effects on osteoarthritis. The
results of the study were so promising — increased mobility and less fear of
falling — she wanted to explore whether yoga could help with Parkinson’s, too.
Yoga
is one of the leading alternative therapies used by Americans, according to a
National Institutes of Health survey on alternative medicine use.
Cheung’s
work adds to a growing body of science on the popular practice’s impact on
Parkinson’s disease — a degenerative brain disorder involving the nerve cells
responsible for voluntary movement. The condition is diagnosed in about 60,000
Americans per year. Tremors, a shuffling walk, muscle stiffness, depression and
dementia are among the symptoms.
The
focus on yoga as a possible therapy for Parkinson’s stems from its gentleness
and its emphasis on breathing, strength and flexibility.
A
Kansas University Medical Center study found a visible reduction in tremoring
and improvement in the steadiness of gait in those participating in yoga
sessions, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association. In her
osteoarthritis and yoga study, Cheung found participants were better able to
cope with their symptoms by doing yoga rather than aerobic strength exercises.
Eager
volunteers
For
this study, she recruited participants through local support groups for people
with Parkinson’s. It was an easy pitch.
“People
are very motivated,” she said.
There
are 20 people involved in the study. Half of them were told to make no change
in the way they manage their symptoms. The others are doing yoga. Cheung will
measure their stress levels by giving them a blood test and checking for the
presence of certain stress hormones. She also will examine their motor
functions, checking their range of motion, stride length, balance and gait.
Five
yoga experts who had experience teaching yoga to people with physical
limitations helped design the hourlong classes, which will last for six months.
Cheung said she suspects by the end of the experiment, the results will show
yoga improves motor function and reduces stress for people with Parkinson’s.
But
for now, all she knows for sure is the participants seem to be enjoying
themselves.
“The
fact that yoga includes both physical as well as the breathing and relaxation
piece, I think that has added benefits for people with Parkinson’s,” she said.
“They are suffering from not only the physical limitations. Yoga teaches them
how to cope with the disease and work with what they have and build on it.”
The
classes start out with slow, basic exercises done sitting, standing or lying
down. Gradually, the participants build up to more difficult exercises and
poses. In addition to the usual yoga props of a mat and block, there are chairs
to help maintain balance and small sandbags to help control hand tremors.
“They
can use the prop to help them get to where the ideal pose is for them,” Cheung
said, adding she’s heard some are doing yoga at home, too.
Exercising
optimism
Although
the study won’t wrap up until December, the participants reached their own
conclusions about yoga therapy.
Jerri
Smith is encouraged. The 58-year-old St. Paul, Minn., woman is new to yoga but
not to Parkinson’s. She was diagnosed with the disease six years ago.
She
said she agreed to participate in the study because she wanted to see whether
yoga would help her symptoms.
“It’s
good to calm my mind down,” she said. “Also, I have a lot of (muscle) cramps
and spasms. My back is really stiff.”
After
a session last week, she reported her muscles no longer feel so tight.
Bob
McGonigal, 72, balanced on one leg and bent the other to form a Figure 4. He
held the pose, standing perfectly still.
“That’s
called the ‘tree pose,’?” he said. “When we first started, I couldn’t do that.”
He,
too, came to the study in search of alternative ways to manage his Parkinson’s.
The Bloomington man was diagnosed in 2010 and has tremors in his forearms and
upper arms.
Steve
Knudsen, 69, of Burnsville, Minn., said he’s found his body is more flexible
after an hour of yoga. Recently, he left class and noticed he didn’t need to
take his medications for Parkinson’s for an hour because he felt so good.
“There
are a lot of possibilities with this,” he said.
http://www.thehawkeye.com/ap/lifestyles/minnesota-study-looking-at-yoga-s-ability-to-offset-parkinson/article_fceadbc3-4774-5988-89bf-9bf16fb36146.html
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