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Working together with a physical therapist, people with Parkinson's disease can embark on a safe and challenging exercise program. Practicing the skills they acquire with resources available in the community — a personal trainer or a group class will allow them to reap the benefits of exercise. People are encouraged to try a variety of activities, which can improve their enjoyment and compliance. In this clip, Dr. Giselle Petzinger explains how to design an optimal exercise regimen for people with Parkinson's disease.
[Rhonda]: And so, I would ask though, you know, for someone that is, you know, does have Parkinson's disease, it sounds like having a personal trainer may be a good idea because you're getting all of these things that you're mentioning. You're getting that feedback, you're getting someone to help challenge you more. It's that challenge. You don't want to just be in your comfort zone like you would if you were walking your dog. You want to push yourself more, right? And so, it helps to have someone or a group class, you know, feedback and, you know. I mean, it's just...
[Giselle]: Yeah. And I think it's great. You've touched on a number of different things. I think, first of all, number one, I think in general, we like having patients with Parkinson's have exposure to physical therapy one-on-one periodically. And I think the idea there is what you've said. For a couple reasons, obviously one, you want to make sure you're challenging yourself, you want to make sure you're not hurting herself, but also you really are gaining kind of a toolset and feedback on what you need to be working on. And it is, as I said, you, you know, getting the feedback to be accurate and problem-solve to do it again better, right? And so, you, you know, you definitely want to progress and get better. Number one. And two, you can kind of use those toolsets to, you know, apply now to a class, so you're doing, you know, what your class, but you kind of know what you need to be working on. So I kind of liked that combination. So getting that one-on-one, I think is always great. And I think for Parkinson's, that's particularly true because they have some deficits that they really should be working on and focusing on. Getting that feedback is important. They may not recognize it. So that feedback is important.
The other thing I was going to say is I like people also to kind of mix things up a little bit, do a lot of different things. So, you know, once you try one thing, maybe mix it up and do something a little different. I think that's also important. Doing something you love, the whole idea of self-belief, you know, self-efficacy and self-belief, the idea that you're going to do better, if you believe you can gain benefits from it, and if you enjoy what you're doing are really key. So I think that's also why the idea of obviously getting some feedback in physical therapy, but then doing something you love, you enjoy, you want to learn is good. Mixing it up both from the skill set, doing different things and mixing up from the different environments. I always say, "Look, we live in Southern California. You know, we've got, I don't know how many different types of terrains here. It's not that hard to mix this up." So it's really going back to the idea of mental flexibility, exploration, and fundamentally play. It's play, which is all those things.
[Rhonda]: Definitely increases compliance that you'll keep doing it if it's something you enjoy doing and like doing.
[Giselle]: It's play, right?
Important for the endocrine enhancing properties of exercise. Exerkines are exercise-induced hormonal-like factors which mediate the systemic benefits of exercise through autocrine, paracrine, and/or endocrine properties.[1]
An essential mineral present in many foods. Iron participates in many physiological functions and is a critical component of hemoglobin. Iron deficiency can cause anemia, fatigue, shortness of breath, and heart arrhythmias.
A neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system. Parkinson’s disease is caused by destruction of nerve cells in the part of the brain called the substantia nigra. It typically manifests later in life and is characterized by tremors and a shuffling gait.
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