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Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease
Whether you’ve been recently diagnosed, or living with Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years, one of the consistent messages you hear from your neurologist or Movement Disorder Specialist is the need to exercise.
I know what you are thinking when your physician discusses the dreaded word EXERCISE.
“I can’t go to the gym, I don’t know what I’m doing and will embarrass myself.”
“Exercising will make me stiff and my muscles will be sore. Why would I do that to myself?
“I can’t exercise, l already have trouble walking and have issues with my balance.”
These are just a few of the many examples I could cite. However, the benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease have been well documented.
In this article, I want to share the 4 Proven Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease and how you can use exercise to improve your quality of life.
So, let’s take a look at the 4 benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease
4 Proven Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease
- Improved Motor Function
- Exercise can enhance motor function by helping to improve balance, coordination, and agility.
- It can help to alleviate or reduce Parkinson’s motor symptoms Tremors, Rigidity, and Bradykinesia (Slowness of Movement)
- A regular, consistent exercise program can help improve gait and posture which is essential in helping prevent falls and enhancing a person’s mobility
- Exercise can enhance motor function by helping to improve balance, coordination, and agility.
- Increased Strength and Flexibility
- Strength training helps to improve muscle strength, tone, and flexibility.
- This helps to alleviate the symptoms of muscle weakness and stiffness
- Flexibility exercises such as stretching or yoga can increase the range of motion, improve joint mobility, and alleviate muscle tension.
- Strength training helps to improve muscle strength, tone, and flexibility.
- Enhanced Cardiovascular Fitness
- Aerobic exercises like walking, cycling, or swimming contribute to cardiovascular health and endurance.
- They improve heart and lung function, providing more stamina for daily activities.
- Mood Elevation and Mental Well-Being
- Exercise releases endorphins, which can elevate mood, reduce anxiety, and alleviate symptoms of depression commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease.
- Engaging in regular exercise can enhance cognitive function, attention, and memory.
Get additional information on the benefits of exercise in my article
4 Strategies for Living with Parkinson’s – The Quest To Lead An Exceptional Life
Why is Exercise Important
In an article entitled Exercise, National Parkinson’s Foundation they cite an important statistic on the benefits of exercise on disease progression in Parkinson’s Patients regarding exercise.
They cite the following
“The Parkinson’s Outcomes Project shows that people with PD who start exercising earlier in their disease course for a minimum of 2.5 hours per week experience a slowed decline in quality of life compared to those who start later. Establishing early exercise habits is essential to overall disease management.” Source: Exercise, National Parkinson’s Foundation
So not only does exercise provide the 4 benefits listed above, it also has been shown to slow the decline in the quality of life of Parkinson’s patients.
Now that we know why exercise is important, let’s take a look at these in more detail and give examples to help bring these benefits to life.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease
Improved Motor Function
I’d like you to think of your car for a minute. In order for your car to run efficiently, you need to put gas in the tank, change the oil regularly, properly inflate and rotate the tires, and follow the maintenance schedule.
Doing these things will help your car not only run efficiently but help it keep running for a long time.
Exercise is no different for people living with Parkinson’s Disease. In order for you to be able to stay active and involved in social and family activities, you need to (dare I say it?) – EXERCISE!
Why is exercise important in helping to improve motor function? Good question.
Maybe it’s best if we start by answering the question – What is motor function?
Just so we are all on the same page, motor function is defined by the American Physical Therapy Association as
“The ability to learn or to demonstrate the skillful and efficient assumption, maintenance, modification, and control of voluntary postures and movement patterns (American Physical Therapy Association, 2014).”
Hallemans, A., Verbeque, E., & Van de Walle, P. (2020). Motor functions. Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 173, 157-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-64150-2.00015-0
That sounds pretty technical. Maybe it is a good idea to simply this definition.
Essentially, there are two basic types of motor function that involve both voluntary and involuntary movements.
Voluntary Movements
So what are voluntary movements? That’s right you guessed it! It’s any type of movement you think about and voluntarily do.
For example, walking is a voluntary movement. You decided to move your legs and arms to get from one place to another and your brain and nervous system get the ball rolling and send messages to the muscles and other parts of the body to make it happen.
Other examples include chewing, stretching, and you get the picture.
Involuntary Movements
Involuntary movements are those that occur that we don’t think about and consciously make the decision to move.
Examples of involuntary movements would include breathing, food digestion, and blinking.
Parkinson’s patients are well aware of some of the different types of involuntary movements, tremors, dyskinesia (involuntary movements of your arms, legs, or body), and dystonia (painful cramps or spasms often in the sole of the foot).
Have you tried to voluntarily stop a tremor? You probably didn’t have much luck, because these are involuntary movements caused by a lack of Dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in movement.
Now that we have a good grasp of what motor function is and the types of movements involved with motor function, let’s look at the benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Motor Functions
A number of studies have demonstrated the effects of exercise on helping to improve gait (walking), balance, and posture.
Why is this important? Because as Parkinson’s Disease progresses the risk of falling increases due to poor balance, gait, and posture issues.
Falling can have devastating effects and can result in long-term stays in a rehabilitation center.
So, we want to prevent falls and the best way to help is to improve our balance, posture, and gait through exercise.
Do I sound like a broken record yet? I hope so.
Let’s dive into the studies.
In the study Role of Physical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease, Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, Bhalsing, Abbas, and Tan, Oct-Dec 2018 evaluated randomized, controlled clinical studies, cohort studies, and meta-analysis to determine exercise effects on motor symptoms.
To put this in layman’s terms, they looked at multiple studies and evaluated and published their findings.
They reported the following benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease in relation to motor function.
“Physical Activity seems most effective in improving physical capacities (57% improvement of all reported outcomes) and physical and cognitive function capacities 55.3% improvement of all reported outcomes).
In 23 randomized controlled trials that assessed physical therapy interventions for patients with PD, the authors found
- Improvement in postural control and balance reported by 9 studies
- Improvement in gait and gait-related activities reported by 3 studies
- Improvement in physical condition reported by 5 studies
Source: Role of Physical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease, Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology.
As you can see, the benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease on motor function are well documented.
Well, this sounds great, but what kind of exercises are going to help improve motor function? I’m glad you asked, let’s give some specific types of exercise you can use to help improve motor function.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Exercises for Improving Motor Function
Let’s break the exercises down into categories to help make it easier for you to choose which ones are best suited for your needs.
Balance Exercises
Balance exercises would include
- Tai Chi
- Yoga
- Dancing
- Non-contact Boxing (well I guess you could do contact Boxing if you like getting punched in the face).
Coordination Activities
The following activities are sourced from the article The best exercises for Parkinson’s disease (and why physical activity is important), Health Partners.
The authors define Coordination Activities as “activities that challenge the agility, size and speed of your muscle movements can help improve and maintain motor skills.”
This article cites the following activities for helping to improve coordination
- Walking
- Cycling
- Dancing
- No-contact boxing or other martial arts
Additionally, hobbies can help with coordination as well. These could include playing a musical instrument where you need to stand and read music, painting, and photography.
All of these types of activities can help with balance, gait, and posture, so find a friend and get started, there is no time to waste.
Now let’s look at the other benefits.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Increased Strength & Flexibility
When most of us think of strength & flexibility training, we think of bodybuilders and the “fit” people in the gym lifting weights.
At the gym, you see people doing bench presses, bicep curls, shoulder presses, and deadlifts.
You think to yourself, there is no way I am going to do that. “I could hurt myself! or Weight lifting or strength training is only for athletes and that’s not me.”
While these excuses sound great, you are actually doing yourself a big disservice if you are not actively participating in strength & flexibility training at least 3 times per week.
A study involving Parkinson’s patients who were referred for exercise in outpatient Physical Therapy to help with their motor symptoms showed 60% of the people did not show up for their scheduled exercise visits.
Source: Sluijs EM, Kok GJ, van der Zee J. Correlates of exercise compliance in physical therapy. Phys Ther. 1993;73:771–782.
Another study, Barriers to Exercise in People With Parkinson’s Disease evaluates barriers to exercise in PD patients between an exercise group and a non-exercise group.
The study found the top three barriers to exercise were
- Low outcome expectation of exercise (they didn’t think they would see a benefit)
- Lack of Time
- Fear of falling
Source: Ellis, T., Boudreau, J. K., DeAngelis, T. R., Brown, L. E., Cavanaugh, J. T., Earhart, G. M., Ford, M. P., Foreman, K. B., & Dibble, L. E. (2013). Barriers to Exercise in People With Parkinson’s Disease. Physical Therapy, 93(5), 628-636. https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20120279
You don’t have to be an athlete or lift heavy weights to gain all the benefits strength training & flexibility has to offer patients with Parkinson’s.
So, what do we mean by strength training?
In the article Cardio vs Strength Training, Fitness Gallery.com, Charlie Kelly, May 2016. He defines strength training as
“Strength training is an exercise that uses resistance to contract muscles to increase strength, boost anaerobic endurance, and build skeletal muscles.” Source: Cardio Vs Strength Training, Fitness Gallery.com
So essentially, strength training involves anything that can provide some type of resistance to help build strength, muscles, and flexibility.
The great thing about strength training is that it can be done at home, in a gym, or in an office setting.
You can even do strength training while you are on vacation as long as you have something to provide resistance.
Types of Resistance for strength training can include
- Resistance Bands
- Free Weights (dumbbells, Kettle Bells, weight bars, and plates)
- Body Weight Exercises (push-ups, squats, etc)
- Household items (Canned Goods, Towels, Luggage).
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Strength Training & Flexibility
Let’s provide some specific exercises you can participate in to achieve the benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease.
Strength Training Exercises
To help achieve the benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease, you should try to participate in strength training 2 to 3 times per week.
These exercises should focus on building total body strength to help with posture and stability. Try to focus on all the major muscle groups.
Disclaimer: Prior to starting any exercise program, please review any exercise program with your physician to get their approval and ensure the program is appropriate for your specific health needs
- Leg muscles (Calf, Quadriceps, and Hamstring)
- Squats, Deadlifts, Calf Raises
- Arm Muscles (Biceps and Triceps)
- Bicep Curls, Triceps Extensions
- Chest Muscles (Pectoralis Muscles)
- Chest Press, Bent Knee Push-ups, Chest Fly’s
- Back Muscles (Trapezius and Latisimus Dorsi (Lats))
- Rows, Lat Pull Downs, Upright Rows
- Shoulders (Deltoid, Rotor Cuff)
- Shoulder Press, Deltoid Lifts (Lift dumbbells to should height, lower), Rotor Cuff exercises
- Abdominals
- Leg lifts, Ab Twists
Flexibility Exercises
Flexibility exercises have positive effects in helping you maintain good, posture, gait, and balance and should be done as often as possible.
Flexibility exercises include stretching and reaching to help your muscles perform daily tasks.
Try to do these as often as possible. Please see the video below for specific flexibility and stretching exercises.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Enhanced Cardio Fitness
A strong cardiovascular system is important not only for your general health but enables us to actively participate in social and physical activities without getting tired and winded.
So what exactly is cardiovascular fitness?
Acccording to the article Cardiovascular Fitness: What It Means to Your Heart Health, Abbott.com, October 5, 2017, Cardiovascular fitness is
“Cardio Respiratory Fitness (CRF) measures how well your body takes in oxygen and delivers it to your muscles and organs during prolonged periods of exercise.”
What this means is that the easier it is for your body to take in and use oxygen the better off your overall health will be when participating in any type of physical activity.
For additional information on exercise read my article
7 Incredible Tips for Exercise and Parkinson’s Disease
Cardio fitness involves doing aerobic (with oxygen) exercises to make your heart and lungs stronger and better able to take in oxygen to distribute it to your muscles and organs.
The benefit of aerobic exercise is that you don’t necessarily need a lot of expensive equipment to get started.
In fact, a simple pair of sneakers can have you well on your way to improving your cardiovascular fitness.
so let’s look at some examples of aerobic exercises you can participate in with yourself, with a friend or as part of a group fitness program.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Aerobic Exercises
Try to do some type of aerobic exercise at least 5 days per week to help achieve and maintain good cardiovascular fitness.
Disclaimer: Prior to starting any type of exercise, be sure to review your exercise program with your physician to get their approval and make sure it is acceptable based on your specific health needs.
Types of Aerobic Exercises
- Walking
- Running or Jogging
- Cycling
- Boxing
- Dance/Zumba
- Swimming
- Yardwork
Keep in mind that aerobic exercise can be broken down into intensity levels, high, moderate, and low. Strive for moderate to at least 2-3 times per week.
These are just a few examples to get you started. Any activity that gets your heart rate up and increases your breathing level will help build cardiovascular fitness.
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease – Mood Elevation and Well-Being
One of the often overlooked benefits of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease is its ability to help improve your mood and give you a positive sense of well-being.
Exercise helps release endorphins, which are hormones. Endorphins are released during pleasurable activities to help reduce anxiety and feelings of sadness which are often linked with Parkinson’s Disease.
You’ve probably heard of the “Runner’s High” where s runner may say I feel great after a long run. This is because of the endorphins released during exercise.
You can experience the same release of endorphins when you exercise regularly.
There are a number of exercises you can do to help with your overall sense of well-being and help reduce anxiety.
According to the article A Grounding Exercise For Anxiety With Parkinson’s, Davis Phinney Foundation, September 17, 2021, the exercises listed below are great ways to reduce anxiety and stress.
- Tai Chi
- Rock Steady Boxing
- Zumba
- Dance for PDR
Participating in focus breathing exercises and meditation are also great ways to relieve stress and anxiety. You are calming the body down by focusing on your breathing and letting random, often negative thoughts pass from your mind.
Exercise can help you achieve a positive outlook on life. Choose multiple forms of exercise to help you achieve your goals.
For additional information on a positive outlook with PD, read my article
The 5 Powerful Benefits of a Positive, Happy Attitude
Benefits of Exercise on Parkinson’s Disease- Summary
Exercise can play a key role in helping you maintain an improved quality of life and help slow the decline of the disease.
Exercise has shown 4 proven benefits for people living with Parkinson’s Disease.
- Improved Motor Function
- Increased Strength and Flexibility
- Enhanced Cardiovascular Fitness
- Mood Elevation and Well-Being
Many studies have reported on the benefits of exercise being almost equivalent to drug therapies.
It is important that you select an exercise program that you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy an activity you won’t stick with it long-term.
Consistency is key! Find a friend or join a gym and make friends in fitness classes.
Just lace up your sneakers and start now. You will be amazed at the benefits you will reap from exercise.
Post written by Chris Kustanbauter, Liveparkinsons.com. I reside in York, PA with my wife and 2 Adopted rescue Boxer dogs, Duke and Katie. For additional articles visit my Blogs page. Please contact me with questions or comments on my Contact Me page. Get my book Spectacular Life – 4 Essential Strategies for Living with Parkinson’s Disease