Here’s yet another great article, this time from the Voice of America, showing how Parkies can do a lot to slow the progression of the disease by exercising.  Video included.

Teaser 1:

Exercise could be the new prescription for Parkinson’s Disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. More than six million people worldwide suffer from Parkinsons and they’re traditionally treated with medication and surgery. But 75-year-old Gary Sobel, who was diagnosed with the disease in his early sixties, took a different approach; rather than following his doctors’ recommendation to take it easy, he turned to exercise. It changed his life, and now, he’s changing others’.

Teaser 2:

To reduce tremors enough so that he could at least try exercise, Sobel started low doses of Parkinson’s medicine. To strengthen his hands, he started squeezing water from wet towels. And it worked. After six weeks, he regained enough control to write again.

Based on that success, Sobel moved on to lunges that strengthened his legs. He took exercise classes and trained as an instructor. Today, he can hike, and work out, and he leads classes in his home town of Boulder, Colorado, for other Parkinson’s patients, spreading his message about the benefits of working up a sweat.

Now let’s see if the video embeds here:

Voilà!

(Now let’s see how long the video remains accessible!)