<h1>This and that - shadow boxing and tai chi</h1>

My wife and I went to a parkinson's seminar yesterday. It was very interesting but unfortunately I was so tired that we had to leave at the afternoon break. Still and all, I learned some new things and I was fascinated to see all the PwP, only a few of whom showed tremor symptoms. Thank the lord for L-dopa. One fellow had both hands shaking! A doctor from the movement disorder clinic gave a talk about the past, present and future of parkinson's drugs. Overall, he was positive and offered hope for the future. I was a little startled when he seemed critical of stem cell research with a reference to its mention in quackwatch.com. You can read the criticism yourself under the heading The Shady Side of Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy It's not all bad, but it would appear there is much more to be studied before we can go shovelling stuff into our brains.

For the first time in my life, I did Tai Chi, only the first 6 moves it's true, but then that is 6 more than I could do yesterday. I can actually see some value in this exercise. The slow, precise movements may well calm the symptoms. We'll see.

In his youth, my father was an armed forces champion boxing and so with this in mind, I signed up for Rock Steady Boxing (no contact). They tell me it is one of the most beneficial exercises for PwP. One researcher's opinion is that boxing affects the dopamine receptors. It may increase the receptors and make them more receptive to the available dopamine. But is boxing the best form of exercise for PwP? This will be my first bout with boxing and I will compare its effect on my symptoms against the other daily exercises with which I torture myself: weight training(small weights) half hour on the treadmill and half hour -> an hour, on the stationary bike. I am adding boxing because of research like this:

But a researcher at the University of Indianapolis's Krannert School of Physical Therapy who studied the Rock Steady program over a two-year period, comparing the health of 45 people in the program to 38 Parkinson's patients doing other exercises, found the boxers seemed to do better."It was so different than anything I'd ever seen before," said Stephanie Combs-Miller, who led the study, which is yet to be published. "They maintained a higher walking speed. They had better endurance, better balance, and I think the most surprising thing to me was they perceived a higher quality of life over that two-year period of time than people that engaged in other kinds of exercise."

Think of it; punching out your frustrations on a canvas bag while improving your balance and endurance. Seems pretty simple to me. Shoot, I've seem Rocky. If Stallone can do it, I can do it. Of course it helps that the target doesn't hit back.

To wrap up this blog entry I share with you the wisdom of that wordsmith, the bard of boxing....