Without Exercise there can be no Effective Treatment for Parkinson's

Physical activity is essential for life, for health. But sport is as necessary for the Parkinson's sufferer as Levodopa, proper nutrition or sunbathing (vitamin D). There are hundreds of scientific studies that prove it: EXERCISE IS A "MEDICINE" FOR PARKINSON'S. The Dutch neurologist Bastiaan Bloem sends the exercise in prescriptions so that his patients become aware of its CRITICAL IMPORTANCE. Always adapted to the situation of each patient by his neurologist: progressive, prudent and safe to avoid falls, injuries, etc.

Some of the benefits of exercise. No medication or treatment can achieve this:

Intense physical exercise on a static bicycle (especially forced exercise done in tandem with a healthy person) provides an improvement in motor symptoms of about 35-40%, similar to a dose of levodopa (Alberts 2011). Exercise also promotes neuroplasticity and neurogenesis (Mattson 2000). It can even prevent it by 43% (Yang 2015), delay the onset of symptoms (Tsai 2002), and slow and stop the progression of the disease (Oguh 2014).

Exercise is the essential complement to any treatment that might be designed for this disease (Formisano 1992). Nothing can replace it. In 1992, Sasco and colleagues were the first to publish an epidemiological study on the benefits of physical exercise for Parkinson's.

    
EXERCISE, A "MEDICINE" TO PARKINSON´S DISEASE.

Some of the extraordinary benefits of the "medicine" called exercise to treat Parkinson's:

   1. Increases dopamine, promotes neuroprotection, neurogenesis

   and neuroplasticity (Lau 2011, Tillerson 2001, 2002, 2003; Mattson 2000, 2003).

   2. Improves mental or cognitive ability (David 2015).

   3. Improvement of up to 40% in symptoms (Alberts 2009, 2011).

   4. Prevents or delays the disease by up to 43% (Ahlskog 2011, Tsai 2002, Yang 2015)

   5. Stops its usual progression (Oguh 2014).

   6. Improves depression and sleep disorders (Butler 1998, Reynolds 2016)).

   7. Lack of exercise increases the risk of Parkinson's disease (Xu 2010).

   8. Improves the perceived well-being of the patient (Baatile 2000).

   9. Fewer falls occur (Allen 2011)

   In short, almost everything improves: motor symptoms (Prodoehl 2015, David 2016, Chung 2016, Bhalsing 2018) and non-engines (David 2015, Reynolds 2016).

Bhalsing's study "Role of physical activity in Parkinson's disease" (2018) seems to me to be a good summary.

From walking to aquatic exercise, aerobic, intensive, forced, dance, tango and "martial arts" like Taichi or Qigong (physical, respiratory, energetic approach).

LESSON FOR US: My father didn't accept it until his last months of life and paid a very high price. Even at the end, after 18 years of being diagnosed (1994-2012) and the last 12 years of taking levodopa, when he was doing light arm stretching, breathing exercises and walking around the house for a few minutes helped by my mother or me, his general condition improved. It's never too late, but the sooner you start, the better.

Let's not forget the basics of Parkinson's: improving nutrition (turmeric, artichokes, asparagus, tomatoes, oranges, nuts, peppers, kiwis, fiber, smoothies, etc.) The opposite would be like treating a sailor suffering from scurvy with exercise and coagulants, and forgetting the vitamin C in oranges and lemons.

Jesus Marquez Rivera. Parkinson's here and now.