What about medications?
Do you know what you're taking and why?
The American Parkinson's Disease Association has created a simple table explaining the most widely used pharmacological treatments for Parkinson's disease in the United States. Click the link to learn!
Watch my P4P training in process
The clients below each underwent a 6 week exercise training program using the P4P Method. Each session was video recorded and documented with SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) notes. Each participant is in a different stage of Parkinson's disease, and therefore the P4P training program provided an appropriate starting point based on stage of disease, to address their needs and goals.
Robert, Anthony and Devi, the clients, agreed to participate voluntarily and share their process. Neither Robert nor Anthony have ever experienced Pilates exercises. Devi has been doing Pilates exercises with P4P programming for the last 4 years. Below are the highlights of their training process, and a little bit about each client. Pilates for Parkinson's is privileged and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with each client in their PD journey. Thank you for entrusting P4P with your exercise needs.
DEVI
Devi has been living with Parkinson's disease for the last 5 years. She was formerly a kindergarten school teacher, and has a dance background from her adolescent years. Pilates was not new to her, although it has taken some time to evolve a consistent and daily practice. Pilates daily has helped her tremendously to live better with Parkinson's. She is so committed to the practice, that she purchased her own Reformer Apparatus and takes weekly online classes, as well as P4P private training in her home.
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She also has progressed Scoliosis, deformities in her feet due to past surgeries, and a pace maker. Despite all these additional challenges, Devi continues the best that she can to stay consistent in some way with her exercise training. Some days medications are off and she simply tries to do some stretching. Most days she has timed her exercise sessions to coordinate well with her "on state" and therefore is able to do almost all exercises, with modifications if necessary, in the Pilates Mat and Reformer repertoire. After living with PD for the last 5 years, and despite a terrible rollercoaster ride of wrong medications and dosages in the last year, her flexibility, coordination, perfect cognition, and fluid gait pattern are testament to her consistency and the P4P Method of exercise programming.
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The results of her commitment are apparent, and she maintains an independent lifestyle with a beautiful garden and 3 cats and 3 dogs. She is very active in her journey with PD, so much so that she blogs about her daily life living with Parkinson's. Her hope is to inspire and encourage others who are living with the same condition. Her next goal is to improve her nutrition. Please visit her blog and chat with her.
Mid Stage PD client begins P4P training (VIDEO 1)
7/7/20
Devi has been a long time client of P4P and has come to really appreciate the benefits of a daily Pilates practice. Early in her training, she purchased her own Pilates Reformer apparatus and various props to help facilitate her regular workouts.
She does still do a lot of mat work and simple stretches with the wall and doorway.
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7/14/20
Her Reformer routine generally includes footwork to keep her legs strong and aligned.
7/23
A large part of her focus is core stabilization work and because of her Scoliosis, she must constantly be practicing 'uprighting techniques' characteristic of the Pilates Therapeutics teachings. She must also do stretches which open the concavity side of her Scoliosis curve. She continues to work creating an awareness of how to upright herself against the Scoliosis curve and the pull of gravity.
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To work with gait pattern she practices stepping over small objects to avoid falling into a shuffling pattern.
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7/25
Her P4P programming also includes the 7 primal movements of which squat and lunge are practiced regularly, and kneeling to standing patterns are reinforced.
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7/30
Her core work includes the 100 in each session and since she has some weakness through her neck extensors, she has learned various modifications of the '100' including a standing version.
She really enjoys working on the Reformer and is particularly fond of the 'feet in straps' series. This series reinforces proximal stability with distal and joint mobility, and ultimately supports good posture and gait.
P4P Method: Stimulate, Progress, Return, Repeat - find SPACE
Mid Stage PD continues P4P program (VIDEO 2)
8/1- Devi's programming has progressed for several reasons: she is consistent and has learned the principles of Pilates, thus throughout all of her movement she strives to apply those principles which makes the work more mindful and challenging. She has a major Pilates apparatus so her programming can diversify to include progressive resistance training beyond isometric strength training on the mat. Finally, after some time she is now aware of how important it is to remain consistent with medications, meal times, stress management and exercise. This helps to regulate her condition and seems to delay progression. She also invests time into coloring, painting and writing all of which help to maintain occupational and cognitive function.
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8/4
Regular stretches practiced daily move in the directions of the spine. She can use the doorway or stability ball to achieve chest expansion and back extension. Sitting on the stability ball or chair, quadruped on hands and knees or against the wall she can achieve a rotation stretch. Lateral flexion can be done seated on the floor, on the Reformer, or over the stability ball. Finally flexion can be done from standing, supine, or sitting. However, it is least practiced because she is already working against forward flexion of the trunk, so her focus is extension and trunk mobility.
8/6
The Reformer series of 'footwork' and 'feet in straps' conditions her to make more effortful movements like step ups, sit to stand and free standing lunges. All of which are extremely challenging to endurance and balance.
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8/8 - 8/15
These video clips give the viewer an idea of the intensity of the work. Perhaps it may or may not seem like a lot, or may seem repetitive. In any case, each session is progressive and diverse with a particular focus. Some movements are repeated consistently to trigger motor learning, while stimulating new neural pathways can occur by changing the surfaces, props or even the cueing, although each exercise evolves from the same root. Regardless, for a person with PD, maintaining function and ease of movement requires a tremendous amount of effort and hard work. It requires courage and optimism.
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