Plenty of exercise

Well, this weekend I got plenty of exercise. On Saturday  I did my usual exercise routine in the morning with treadmill, PWR moves and stretching, and I also attended the PD exercise class at11:15. Then my husband and I walked to lunch, walked to the bookstore and then back home for a 40-minute total.  So that was 2 1/2 hours. On Sunday, usual morning routine, walked to church and back, hiked at Big Bone Lick State Park for 1 hour 45 minutes and finally joined a group boxing class that Sarah Stahr  (my personal trainer) was trying out? That was over 4 hours!

I gave some thought to why I have been doing so well and the only thing I can see is that perhaps the amount that I am actually walking is fairly high. I am not going to slow down now! 

Deficit #4: Balance

In my list of deficits, balance is right up there. A disturbance in one's balance is one of the hallmarks of PD. You don't realize how much of the typical daily movement requires balance until your balance becomes impaired. Walking, sitting, changing positions, reaching, squeezing through a narrow space or a crowd, staying on a path, hiking uphill or downhill -- these are all feats of balance that can be more difficult in PD. The good news is that balance is one of the most trainable of skills. It is a skill that will improve when you work on it. I am not sure how this works when one has a degenerative condition like PD, but certainly one can fight the degeneration and at least not get as much worse.   Static balance, however, is not as important ad dynamic balance. So moving while challenging your balance (such as stepping back and forth with one foot at a time) is best. I even like to try the good old-fashioned walking along the street curb! Makes me feel like a kid!

Building habits

I have heard it said that it takes three weeks to make or break a habit. Sometimes it takes even longer. When I was first diagnosed with Parkinson's, it was quite clear that I was not swinging my right arm normally. One of my first tasks was to try to remember to swing my arm correctly (i.e. reciprocally) when walking. I remember that it did not feel natural. But I persisted, and one day, I suddenly realized that my arm was swinging without quite so much intention required. I am sure it had taken more than three weeks, but it had happened.

Not every malfunction of movement caused by PD can be remedied, but I am beginning to feel that if I work hard at it, many movements will get easier or become more natural. I still have to think BIG for almost every step I take if it is to be a good step. But I find myself SOMETIMES taking a pretty good step automatically.

Keep working on those habits!

Back from vacation

I will need a few days to get over jet lag and gather my wits, but we had a great trip to Russia. I did at least 15 minutes of PWR! Moves every morning which really helped work the kinks out. The rest of my exercise was primarily walking, but we did a LOT of walking. Crossing the bridges while being buffeted by the wind in St. Petersburg was a challenge to my gait problems, but I did it! I felt as though for the most part I could forget about PD, but I also felt it was the confidence that I could feel that way that actually made me feel that way. More in a day or two...

Another vacation

My husband John and I will be leaving tomorrow on another vacation, so I won't be posting for several weeks. We are going on a river cruise in Russia -- a country that I visited 35 years ago on a language study program, and have always wanted to return just once. The changes should be amazing, but then all of us change. And we also age. I have said that in some ways, Parkinson's is just accelerated aging. Aging after all involves diminished movements, balance problems, lack of flexibility, and decreased cognitive functioning. Sounds like PD to me.

My goal when at home is to get a total of 1.5 hours of exercise or other vigorous activity daily ... Preferably  in two sessions. When traveling I have less control over this. But I must remember walking through the airport (hurrying gets the heart rate higher!), and walking in a large city ( which can be difficult), not to mention the PWR!Moves routines in the cabin and walks around the deck. I plan to keep up my active life ... if for no other reason than reporting back here (that is the accountability factor). Have a great couple of weeks. We return to Cincinnati on July 19.

Response about amplitude

Yeah! A comment with a question! We have a real conversation going here!  Claire (a PT from California ) asked how I incorporate amplitude into my daily life in other ways besides the big steps. Now that is a good question! Certainly there are variants of the steps ... Stair steps two at a time, hiking steps, walking steps to match my husband. Since gait is probably my primary PD symptom, these are what I notice the most, but there are certainly other ways in which I should be incorporating amplitude that I have not thought of. But the primary other way that I am working on amplitude is the volume  of my voice. PWPs lose the volume and expressiveness of the voice. There is in fact a program of voice therapy for PWPs called the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment LOUD program and I actually did this therapy some years ago. It involves being LOUD for an hour 4 times a week for 4 weeks, but I didn't find that it helped a lot immediately. It did help me to believe that I could be loud (I got up to 105 decibels!). I do feel that my volume has improved, and I am now more conscious of it every day, but I credit this to another practice -- reading aloud to my husband John. In the past ten years I have read over 70 books to us, the most recent being my brother Charlie's well-received new novel  called The Bookman's Tale. Reading aloud to someone requires adequate volume and clarity as well as expression. This can be a challenge to me -- especially in the car on a noisy highway. But it has become more automatic with lots of practice. And I am aware of the need to speak up in social situations more as well. Just as PWPs cannot judge their decreased amplitude in movement, they also are not good judges of their decreased amplitude in voice volume. I commend to those of you with this problem the art of  reading aloud. If you don't have a spouse to read to, find an elderly friend or a child. Reading aloud is a lost art that needs to be found again!