Jill Schramm/MDN Personal trainer Tanya Gillen, right, guides Wes Plummer through an exercise activity as a demonstration during a presentation to members of the Parkinson’s Support Group Wednesday.
There is no cure for Parkinson’s, but exercise can delay the disease and improve quality of life, according to Tanya Gillen, certified personal trainer and exercise physiologist with Trinity Health.
Gillen, who obtained certification in July to teach a Delay the Disease course, began offering classes at the Minot Family YMCA this past week. She spoke about the classes and the importance of exercise at a meeting of the Minot Parkinson’s Support Group Wednesday.
The program, developed by OhioHealth, is designed to improve function and restore as much independence as possible to people living with Parkinson’s, a disease estimated to affect about one million Americans. North Dakota has the nation’s third highest rate of Parkinson’s, according to the Midwest Parkinson’s Initiative.
Information from the initiative stated symptoms develop gradually as levels of dopamine in the brain fall. The main symptoms include tremor, slowness of movements and loss of purposeful spontaneous movement, rigidity and lack of balance and coordination. Other potential symptoms include fatigue, depression, small handwriting, loss of sense of smell and changes in speech, swallowing, facial expression and gait. Exercise is considered an essential part of a treatment plan.
“When you exercise, you can significantly improve all areas of functioning with Parkinson’s, including balance, walking, and QOL, quality of life,” Gillen said. “Basic science research findings suggest that exercise can protect the brain from Parkinson’s disease damage and may help restore lost functions.”
The Delay the Disease class can help maximize the benefits of exercise by tailoring activities specifically to address Parkinson’s.
The first Delay the Disease classes were held Sept. 3. The hour-long classes continue for 12 weeks each Tuesday and Friday. A basic level class begins at 11:15 a.m. and an intermediate level class at 2 p.m., both in the group fitness room at the YMCA.
“I thought it was good exercise,” said Dave McKinley, who was among a dozen participants in the first intermediate class. “It helps stretch the muscles that need to be stretched.”
“It was very good. Very, very nice,” class participant Wes Plummer said. “I felt like I was exercising all my muscles.” Although leaving the class tired from the effort, he said, the class was fun exercise. Among activities he enjoyed was hitting a balloon around a circle of participants who kept their minds active by reciting their names or other words when striking the balloon.
“Overall, the response has been wonderful,” Gillen said of last Tuesday’s first class.
Some exercises use big movements, including walking and talking, while others are as simple as working the muscles involved in smiling or making a fist.
Gillen also assigned her initial participants homework, including writing their names, practicing their postures and singing.
“I tell them I don’t care if you’re in the car, if you’re in the shower, I don’t care if the dog is howling,”she said. “You’re going to sing because one of the first things to go is vocals. When the vocals go, then the ability to swallow goes.”
Gillen, who traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, for Delay the Disease training, said she enjoyed that exercise concepts in the class built on the exercise physiology knowledge she already possessed. It was exciting to learn that she could incorporate small changes or additions to movements she already was using with her clinical clients and enhance those exercises for people with Parkinson’s, she said.
Minot’s Delay the Disease classes are the first in North Dakota. The class is popular in Nebraska, one of the top states in the country for Parkinson’s research, and in Ohio, where the course originated, Gillen said.
Delay the Disease founders, personal trainer David Zid and nurse Jackie Russell, founded the course on evidence-based, structured exercise routines that are focused on strength training and correcting disease-specific physical challenges. The routines work toward retraining the mind and body, according to the program’s website.
Among skills optimized through participation in the classes include moving with ease and confidence in a crowd, improved handwriting, rising from a chair and dressing independently.
Enrollment in the 12-week Delay the Disease classes costs $60 for YMCA members and $90 for non-members. Enrollment in the Silver Sneakers program provides a free YMCA membership.
People who want to sample classes can pay a $5 drop-in fee per class.
https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2019/09/new-class-helps-battle-parkinsons-symptoms/
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