"Smovey Rings" are a general health and wellness tool that combine exercise and vibration, which have particular beneficial applications for Parkinson's Disease. Indeed, these hand held "rings" were invented by Johann Salzwimmer, an Austrian Tennis player and a person with Parkinson’s, who actually initially designed them specifically to help himself. So it is not hard to understand why these are proving beneficial now with many other people who also have neurological conditions.
Read More
Breathing Through the Nose and Parkinson's Disease
I set about seeing if there was anything which could provide even more of an anti-histamine effect over just the nasal wash out method described above. I was wary of taking anti-histamine drugs, because I'd read these might make things worse with long term usage. Being an afficinado of the use of light for medical problems, I did some more research and discovered there are little red light - or even infrared - gadgets which you can stick up your nose to create anti-histamine effects, and that this idea was based on sound science!
Read More
Report on Wearable Light Therapy Technology Applied to Parkinson's Disease
In fact, the possibilities to fine tune light therapy for PD through such wearables is now immense. For example, the Propeaq glasses already come with an app which allows the timings of the therapy to be programmed in: Toine is helping Olympic athletes achieve peak performance at the scheduled times of their events! They also already come with interchangeable tinted colors, including red for increasing melatonin: currently, these are used when the wearables are applied to combatting jet lag, for example.
Read More
Why Strategic Light Therapies Offer New Hope for People Parkinson's Disease
A number of important studies have now clearly demonstrated that strategic use of light therapy can be highly beneficial for people with Parkinson's. Recent studies aimed mainly at addressing the poor quality of sleep associated Parkinson's, as well as those aimed mainly at addressing depression in people PD, are alsp inadervently showing improvements in the motor symptoms of the participants too. It is believed this is because strategic light therapies are actually helping to restore the natural balances between dopamine and melatonin and restoring the Circadian Rhythm.
Read More
Music-As-Medicine for Parkinson's Disease
Like many, people with Parkinson's, I had completely stopped listening to music some time before diagnosis. This "closing off" or withdrawal from the world of the senses is one of the running themes which I have found in talking to very many people with Parkinson's. But whenever I see people with other neurological conditions like Alzheimer's on the TV, invariably they seem to be existing in silence, and have forgotten the music that one made them come to life. Even quite recently, I could not recall seeing people with such conditions, as shown in the reality of their lives, with music even playing in the background, and certainly never saw them with a personal choice of music, carefully chosen to stir all sorts of memories, being played loud directly in their ears via digital headphones. Thankfully, the profound impact of music on people with neurological illnesses, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's is now coming to the fore.
Read MoreMovement Recovery with Yo-Yo Stress Balls
Deb had the unique insight that a kind of stress ball (a squeezy, bouncy ball which fit the human hand well) which comes with an attached elastic string and a velcro finger or wrist strap would be hugely beneficial. She based this on our discoveries of how some hand-eye co-ordination movements are relatively easy for people with Parkinsonsim's. She was right!
Read More
Learning How to Walk Again with Parkinson's Disease
.People with Parkinson's tend to shuffle when we "walk". We take very small steps, hardly lifting our feet off the floor at all. We often trip over things and lose our balance. It is part and parcel of that terrible posture, the stooped over "Parkinson's Stance", which many of us develop when we do nothing to correct it. The resulting "Parkinson's Shuffle" is an extremely inefficient way to move around and is so very tiring.
Read More
Ball Game Based Therapies for Parkinson's Disease
A very simple, but extremely effective therapy for movement recovery and progressive symptom reduction in Parkinson's Disease is to incorporate playing with balls of various types, sizes and textures. The hand-eye co-ordination and sensory feedback seems to open up access to movement considerably, presumably because it brings in other pathways and regions of the brain in to help.
Read More
Bat and Ball Therapy for Parkinson's Disease
A simple bat & ball set was just about the first thing I bought when I started exploring toys which could help me unlock movement to start pushing back my Parkinson's Disease symptoms. Once I began to play with them while my PD drugs weren't working - in an "off" state in which I didn't have my much access to movement - it was a complete revelation! The shear degree of movement that suddenly came back in just playing "keep it up" with the bat and ball was a joy, especially in terms of neck movement and core rotation. The fact that while I was doing it, much of my other symptoms (rigidity, unfocused eyes, breathing problems, pain) went away, at least in the moment of play, was massive in re-thinking about my condition, and how to live well with it.