I do not have happy feet. My feet can be downright surly. Uncooperative. Intransigent. At times they refuse to do the simplest things asked of them. So I took them dancing.
You're thinking "Pete, as the personification, the very incarnation of raw Alaskan woodsplittin', mountain bikin', frigid temperature toleratin' toughness, what in the world are you doing bellying up to the ballet bar for plie practice?"
Fair question. The answer? If I want to maintain my wood splittin', mountain bikin' etc. I need to control the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease as well as possible, as long as I can. Dealing effectively with PD means keeping up your underlying fitness. Dance is an effective way that this can be done. So says the
National Institute of Health:
"Dance may address each of the key areas that have been identified as
being important for an exercise program designed for individuals with
PD. First, dance is an activity performed to music. The music may serve as
an external cue to facilitate movement, thus addressing the first
recommended component which is the use of external cues. Dance also
involves the teaching of specific movement strategies, which is the
second recommended component of a PD-specific exercise program. For
example, in Argentine tango participants can be taught a very specific
strategy for walking backward. They are taught to keep the trunk over
the supporting foot while reaching backward with the other foot, keeping
the toe of that rear foot in contact with the floor as it slides back
and shifting weight backward over the rear foot only after it is firmly
planted. Dance also addresses the third recommended component, balance
exercises. Throughout dancing, particularly with a partner, one must
control balance dynamically and respond to perturbations within the
environment (e.g. being bumped by another couple). In fact, people who
have danced habitually over their lives are known to have better balance
and less variable gait than non-dancers. Additionally, dance-based balance training has been shown to be successful in improving balance in elderly individuals."
We are fortunate in Anchorage to have an instructor specially trained by the
Mark Morris Dance Program for Parkinson's, Carolyn Lassiter. I went to one of Carolyn's classes (Offered Tuesdays at the Alaska Dance Theater building,
550 E 33rd Ave in Anchorage, from one until two in the afternoon.) It's free, and to get you in the mood to move, there is live piano music. Class started gently with seated exercises then progressed to slightly more advanced moves while we stood at the bar in case we needed it for balance. As we went through the routines, I felt my body warming up. The pleasure of moving in rhythm to the music began to take hold. And there was the companionship of the other people who had to work as I did against the limitations imposed by PD. What's not to like about this?
I'll be back to Carol's class. The stakes here are high. The better we maintain our ability to walk, to
balance, and to flex our bodies, the less chance we will suffer falls,
make trips to the hospital, and run the risks that this implies.
Furthermore the closer we can approximate our old "normal" lives, the
more we will be able to endure the weight of Parkinson's Disease. And
the longer we can keep ourselves going, the more chance we will have to
benefit from any new developments in Parkinson's care.
Here is a chance to catch Parkinson's off guard. Our natural tendency is to want to fight Parkinson's Disease. But what if we can charm it with a dance?
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