The gloves are on in fight against Parkinson’s
Submitted by Brett Fisher on Fri, 01/01/2016 - 5:01pm
At the Tazmanian Boxing Club in north Carson City, clients are receiving much more than training to become pugilists. They are gaining an upper hand in the fight against Parkinson's Disease.
Gym owner Francisco Rodriguez has partnered with Nina Vogel, a licensed physical therapist with Carson-Tahoe Health, to offer a therapeutic way for Parkinson’s patients to combat the devastating effects of the neurological disease through the discipline of boxing.
“A lot of people are intimidated by boxing, thinking that they are too old or too advanced (in their disease process), which isn’t true at all,” Vogel said. “All the research about Parkinson’s shows high intensity exercise helps improve function.”
Boxing, she says, focuses on speed, power, and agility. Punching, for instance, can help with tremors, said Vogel. Other exercises focus on improving balance and coordination, which Parkinson’s Disease effects.
“Peoples’ speed, their shuffling, balance, and their posture improves so much,” Vogel said.
Rodriguez, a former professional Bantam-weight World Boxing Council Latin American title holder and Arizona state champion with a record of 28-4-4, couldn’t agree more.
“The way they (the patients) move their hands now, they have more control now,” he said. “They are able to stretch a lot better and control their muscles with better technique.”
Rodriguez said balance is a key element of boxing, and it happens to be an area of need for those stricken with Parkinson’s Disease.
Another important boxing principal, Rodriguez said, is self-control.
Parkinson’s Disease effects an individual’s ability to control fine and gross motor movements. Exercises that focus on helping muscles regain control are important to therapy, Vogel said.
The vigorous, high-intensity exercise involved in boxing also benefits sleep, added Vogel, and sleep difficulty is a common symptom of Parkinson’s Disease.
Besides the physical benefits of boxing, there are also mental and emotional benefits, too, Vogel added.
“Mentally, they (the patients) feel hope as this is a way to empower people,” she said. “Fellowship of people who share the same struggles is really important.”
Rodriquez, who also works for Carson-Tahoe Health, met Vogel about a month ago and was approached with the idea of opening up his gym to patients with Parkinson’s Disease.
The venture is still fairly new, Vogel admits, but she has been encouraged by the turn-out so far. Last week 11 people joined the weekly class held Monday afternoons from 4-5 p.m. Most are regulars, Vogel said.
One of those regulars is Kathleen Elliott, a former telephone company worker diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2009. She has attended two class sessions thus far, and already she feels better than she has in years.
“This therapy has helped me tremendously,” Elliott said. “I was in a wheelchair two months ago. I could barely get out of bed.”
But after her first class, Elliott says she experienced improvement overnight.
“I was immediately walking better,” she said. “I’m not in the wheelchair anymore.”
Elliott said prior to starting this class, her treatments for Parkinson’s were limited to medications and traditional physical therapy; neither of which has been as helpful in such a short amount of time as the class at Tazmanian Boxing Club.
“I can do a lot of things for myself now,” she added. “I fell ten times before this, and I haven’t fallen since I’ve been here.”
Elliott thought the therapy modality strange at first, because she didn’t know that a high-intensity work-out like boxing was beneficial for Parkinson’s Disease.
“I didn’t see how exercising and pushing yourself would help,” she said. But traditional physical therapy “is nothing compared to this.”
The partnership between Vogel and Rodriguez has given Tazmanian Boxing Club an affiliate designation with Rock Steady Boxing, Inc., of Indianapolis, Indiana, the organization that has spearheaded a nationwide effort to promote boxing as a therapeutic modality for treating Parkinson’s symptoms.
To learn more about the link between boxing and Parkinson’s treatment, visit www.rocksteadyboxing.com and click on ‘affiliates’ to find information on the Tazmanian Boxing Club in Carson City. You can also contact Vogel at rocksteadyboxingcarsoncity@gmail.com.
The Tazmanian Boxing Club is located at 1701 S. Sutro Terrace in Carson City.
