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Why do Doctors Not Tell Us about Fast Walking?
To be fair to doctors, this is all new to Medical Science and does not get taught in Medical School.
In practice, it is my opinion that it is not in the BUSINESS INTERESTS of the Medical World to find a CURE for any Chronic medical condition? If they did find a cure, it would be bad for the Pharmaceutical Industry and it would reduce the numbers of patients needing constant medical help to treat only symptoms and not interfere with the progression of the ailment.
The scientists only get paid for looking for ways to TREAT the SYMPTOMS of chronic illnesses. Therefore, such conditions as POLIO and many other killer conditions, there are vaccinations to prevent you from getting them and medications to make you better if you have them.
To emphasize this last point:
How long did it take, after COVID-19 started to kill THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, did scientists come up with a vaccination to prevent others from catching it and another medication to make those who have it, better? The answer was less than a few months. The same thing happened in the past for EBOLA, HIV, Polio, SARS, and several other killer diseases. I rest my case!
We don’t yet have a cure for the common cold after more than 70 years supposedly looking for it!
We can send Men to the MOON, but cannot find a cure for the common cold!
How to Teach a Pd Patient to Walk Consciously
Please note that this and all other articles are written by me, John Pepper, as a person with Parkinson’s disease (Pd). I understand what having Pd is like and what we can and can’t do. I am not a trained medical person. The way I describe things is maybe not the same way they would, but you, as Parkinson’s patients, will understand what I am saying.
When people without Parkinson’s disease walk, they do not have to think about their movements. Many Parkinson’s patients are no longer able to walk properly, because Pd affects their movements. Movements like walking; writing; bringing food to their mouth etc. Because Pd can affect all of these movements, they now have to take back the ‘conscious’ control of all those movements again, as they once did when they were very small.
*When I say “his, him or he”, I mean both sexes.
*************
I have now made 3 videos, which I was unable to do until Dr Doidge's documentary movie was released on the 27th October 2016, when it was shown on Canadian TV on the channel, “The Nature of Things”.
I have continued to successfully help people do this by giving talks all over the English-speaking world and by email.
So let's try this out with you. This is written for somebody else to teach you, the patient, but if you are the patient then you will understand what to do:
Link the patient’s left arm in the helper’s right arm, loosely holding his wrist with your thumb and forefinger. The reason for holding him in this way is to take away his fear of falling, so that he can concentrate on his walking.
You must first carry out four simple tests to make him ‘consciously aware’ of all the movements he is still capable of performing.
Test 1.
Ask him to put his whole weight on his left leg. If he is doing this properly, he should be able to swing his right leg, without losing his balance. Then ask him, “How far can he stick his right leg out in front of him, with his knee held straight? If he is able to do this, as almost everybody is, then tell him to put his whole weight on his right leg and show you how far he can stick his left leg out in front of him, with the knee held straight. Just to reinforce what he has just done, ask him to put all his weight onto his left leg again and loosely swing his right leg backwards and forwards, as high as he can. Then do the same while standing on his right leg, and loosely swinging his left leg. In this way he will become more relaxed.
Test 2.
Then ask him to ‘consciously’ show you both how high he is able to stand up on his toes.
Test 3.
If the patient is able to stand on his own, without falling, then let him do this next test unaided. If he must be held all the time then stand behind him, holding his waist with both your hands. Then ask him to swing his arms as high as possible.
Test 4.
This last test is to ask him to put his whole weight on his left leg again and ask him, “Are you able to move your right leg forward and land on your heel, with your toes pointing upwards, at roughly thirty degrees to the ground?” Then ask him to put his whole weight onto his right leg and ask him, “Are you able to move your left leg forward and land on your heel, with your toes pointing upwards at roughly thirty degrees to the ground?”
If he does all these tests successfully then tell him that he was able to do these things because he was ‘concentrating’ on the actual movements! Up until now, he has been trying to will himself to walk, but now he knows, if he concentrates on each movement he is still able to walk ‘normally’!
There is no a catch in what he has been doing. It is merely pointing out the reality that he is still capable of ‘consciously moving his limbs’, but he is no longer able to do so without concentrating on them anymore.
All he now needs to do is consciously move his legs and arms and walk like that for the rest of his life.
Is that a great hardship?
So, with your right arm holding onto his left arm, you ask him to:
- Place the full weight onto his left foot
- Lift his right foot off the ground and move his right leg forward about eighteen inches (375mm), or even further, and land on the heel of the foot, with his right toes pointing up in the air.
- Keep moving forward, while lifting the left foot off the ground and bringing it as far forward as possible and landing on the heel of the left foot, with his left toes pointing up in the air.
- Keep walking as fast as he can.
Don’t stop walking until you feel that the patient is scraping his feet on the ground, which normally shows when he loses his concentration and starts to walk badly. Don’t feel bad about this, because it is very tiring to begin with. The more he practices the further he will be able to walk.
When you have both come to grips with the simple reality that he is now able to concentrate on his actual movements and start walking normally, then you are both on your way to ‘reversing his Pd!
As soon as he is able to do it more confidently, with you still holding his arm, as indicated above, then he should be able to walk every second day, as fast as he can, and start to reverse his Pd. When he no longer needs you holding his arm then let him walk unaided.
How fast is fast?
If he cannot speak, when he is walking, then he is walking too fast. If he can speak ‘normally’, then he is walking too slowly. When he is walking at the correct speed for him, then he should only be able say, “One, Two”, between breaths. If he can still say, “One, two, three”, he is still walking too slowly. He should breathe as deeply as possible all the time he is walking. Try not to talk to each other, when you are doing the walking as he will need to concentrate very hard on the walking and you may cause him to fall or lose his rhythm. This is very important.
After fast walking for a month –
He should start paying attention to pushing up on the toes of the back feet, before the heels of the front feet touch the ground!
Because this is all happening quite fast, he should be consciously aware that he is pushing forward on the toes of his back feet. He can’t look down to see if he is doing this, but he will feel that he is walking much smoother and he will be aware that the weight of his body is being carried on the toes of the back feet.
Oh! And if he is not standing upright, then tell him to stand erect, with his shoulders back and his head upright, with his chin level with the ground! There is nothing stopping him from doing so, it is just a bad habit he has developed over the years. If he can lay flat on his back in bed then he can stand up straight. He may need some exercises to help strengthen his back muscles.
How far must he walk?
To begin with, he should walk for no more than ten minutes! Then, after every two weeks, he can add an additional five minutes to his time. That means, for the first two weeks he walks for ten minutes each walk. On the third and fourth week he walks for fifteen minutes each walk. On the fifth and sixth week he walks for twenty minutes each walk. And every second week he will add an additional five minutes per walk.
When he reaches one hour he no longer continues to add an additional five minutes per walk. He stays at one hour per walk and concentrates on walking faster and faster!
He must keep a written record of each walk, showing the time walked and the distance travelled. He can then divide the time by the distance and work out how many minutes it took him to walk one kilometre. Seeing his speed improving will give him an incredible boost. Put all these records in a log book for future reference.
How often must he walk?
He must only walk every second day! If he walks every day, he will not give his muscles a chance to recover. That will result in muscle injuries and his muscles will start to eat themselves up, in order to get the energy they need to do what he is calling upon them to do.
He can walk seven times in a two week period, or have a day off each week and only walk three times a week.
What must his pulse rate be in beats per minute (BPM)?
As we are all different, we all have different pulse rates. Mine might get up to 100 BPM while his might get up to 125 BPM. It matters not if he is walking as fast as he can!
Why is Fast Walking better than jogging?
I don’t know for certain the answer to this question. All I do know is that in the controlled studies done By Dr Beth Fisher in 2006, she found that the best exercise was, “High Intensity Walking”. By that I can only think it means “Fast Walking”. She tested jogging and running, although I don’t know how she got Parkinson’s patients to run or jog.
This is an excerpt from The Spring Times article on that 1st World Parkinson’s Congress held in Washington DC in 2006:
For exercise-testing of patients, use was made of a treadmill with an overhead bodyweight-support suspension harness to allow high-intensity exercise without any danger of falling or injury. Patients were divided into three groups: a high-intensity exercise group with MET 3.5 and above, a low-intensity group with MET below 3.0 and a no-exercise control group (1 MET=1kcal/kg, h). Testing was carried out in 24 sessions, each of 60 minutes duration, over a period of 8 weeks.
The outcomes of the exercise were measured in terms of changes in disease severity, functional performance (stair climbing, stand/sit movements) and brain function testing. This latter test, carried out using Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) techniques, provided the most significant indications of the benefits of exercise. At various levels of stimulation, TMS was used to provide a Motor Evoked Potential (MEP) response, with peak-to-peak maximum amplitude and cortical-spinal rest time (Silent Period Duration, SPD) being measured independently in both brain hemispheres. This enabled a comparison to be made between the more the less affected sides in Pd patients and between Pd patients and healthy controls. SPD tends to be shortened and MEP shows higher peak-to-peak rest values (hyper excitability) in Pd.
Comparison between pre- and post-exercise readings showed that exercise led to a convergence to normal values in Pd patients, with the higher intensity exercises having the greatest effect.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest the dose-dependent benefits of exercise and that high-intensity exercise can normalize corticomotor excitability in early PD.
Is walking on the road better than on a treadmill?
Yes! Parkinson’s disease affects our brain. It does nothing to our body. However, because the brain controls all movements and if, as a result of having Pd, we don’t use certain muscles in our body then those muscles will atrophy. So, Pd affects the body indirectly. If we start using those atrophied muscles again, they will start to grow again and get stronger.
Walking on a road requires a lot more brain activity. It has to deal with uneven surfaces and if we walk on uneven surfaces the brain has a lot more work to do. So, the result is that when we walk on a treadmill, we can actually watch TV or even read a book. That means that we use the brain a great deal less walking on a treadmill.
I would strongly recommend that you walk on grass, because if you have a fall you will not hurt yourself as badly as you would on the road.
Remember! There is always a risk of falling. I have fallen quite often, at the beginning, but never broke any bones, because of the exercise I have always been doing. That is why I recommend having someone hold the patient’s arm for the initial period, when he is getting used to using his conscious brain to control his walking.
Please tell me how it goes.
Here are all my videos:
My Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QVIdPo71gI
San Francisco Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD6amOGxSC4
Interview with Dr Norman Doidge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yX7atJmNJJ8
Dr Doidge’s Video: The Brain’s Way of Healing:
Here is the Dr Norman Doidge Video which you MUST NOT GIVE TO ANYBODY ELSE!
The password is 90para90
If you pass this on to anybody else we will be sued by the company that made the video.
Clovelly Surf Club Talk
Barry Geffen Video
Kind regards
John
Starting Fast Walking
You will find that if you concentrate on moving your legs and arms you will be able to walk properly. In the past you have been able to tell yourself to walk and it happens, without you having to think what your legs and arms are doing.
Carry out a little test to illustrate this point. Stand upright with your feet, shoulder width apart. Then, with somebody holding one of your arms, put all your weight onto your left foot so that you are able to lift your right foot up in front of you, without falling over, with the knee held straight. See how far you are able to stick that right leg out in front of you. You will find that you are able to stick it out quite far.
Then, put all your weight on the right foot and lift your left leg up in front of you, with the knee held straight, and see how far you are able to stick that left leg out. No doubt it will be the same as the right leg.
If you were able to stick both legs out to at least 30 degrees, which is normal, you will ask yourself, why don't you do that when you are walking. The answer is that when you do it subconsciously, it is not working properly and when you do it consciously, it works perfectly.
So all you have to do now is to consciously think about putting all your weight on one leg and think of moving that leg forward and landing on the heel of that foot, then doing the same with the other leg.
After getting used to doing that, with somebody holding your arm, for at least a week, you can then concentrate on holding the weight of your body on the ball of the grounded foot, so that when the other heel hits the ground, your body weight is being supported on that back foot.
Soon you will be walking, consciously, all the time, without having to concentrate too hard.
Look at my profile and make contact with me to find out more about ways of dealing with your Pd.
Here are some videos showing you all about it.
Which is Better? Walking on a Treadmill or on Uneven Surfaces.
Please note that this and all other articles are written by me, as a person with Parkinson’s disease (Pd). I understand what having Pd is like and what we can and can’t do. I am not a trained Physical Exercise person, nor am I a medically trained person, and the way I describe things is maybe not the same way they would, but you, as Parkinson’s patients, will understand what I am saying.
*When I say his, him or he I mean both sexes.
*************
I am asked, almost every day, “Is walking on a treadmill as good as walking on the ground?” This question arises mainly due to the difficulty in many countries, due to weather conditions, walking outdoors. If you live in a country where weather precludes you from walking outdoors safely, then you should try to walk in a shopping mall or on an indoor running track.
The answer to this question depends on what you are trying to achieve by doing the walking? If you are trying to get fit then you will probably get the same benefit from both, but I am not too sure about that.
What I am sure about is that if you have Pd and you want to get the most benefit out of walking then do it on uneven surfaces, like playing fields or parks or even on paved roads.
The reason for this is that we patients have a problem in our brain. Pd has damaged an area of our brain that affects our movements. We want to do exercise that can repair that damage, if that is at all possible.
Our bodies often get injured, and if our bodies were not able to repair those injuries then we would not have survived as a species. It is as simple as that!
Every single cell in our body makes something called ‘Growth Factor’. So when you injure yourself your body repairs that injury by using these growth factors. Not all injuries can be repaired this way, with the result we die. But most of them can be repaired.
Pd damages the Glial cells in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Those glial cells help produce a growth factor called GDNF (Glial Derived Neurtrophic Factor). That repairs the damaged glial cells. Neurotrophic means ‘Nerve Repair’, or ‘Nerve Building’. So our brains make their own ’Repair/Building kit’.
As a layman I am in foreign territory. I read lots of information relating to Pd and I have often read two totally different versions of what Pd does to the glial cells. Some say that Pd ‘kills’ those glial cells and others say that Pd ‘damages’ those glial cells. Now this is very important. When cells die they get removed from the body by a process called ‘apoptosis’. But if those cells die and get removed they can’t be repaired. That being the case then maybe the GDNF replaces those dead cells and the brain would then produce more dopamine and we would get better.
On the other hand, if those glial cells are put out of action by the Pd, and those glial cells get blocked by a substance called ‘alpha synuclein’, which puts the cell out of action but does not kill it, then the GDNF may get rid of the alpha synuclein and therefore repair it and it would then continue to produce dopamine again.
The latter of these two scenarios seems to me to be the correct one, but I am not a scientist. All I know is that since I have been doing fast walking on our roads and over rough ground, my Pd symptoms have improved.
Just in case somebody rightfully says, “Who says that the fast walking caused that improvement? “, I have to say that during the years I was getting better, I also did other things that could possibly have helped to cause that improvement, namely:
- Only taking an MAO-b inhibitor for those eight years, which is very unusual.
- Having given up my high-powered job and reduced my stress levels
- Adopting a positive attitude towards my Pd
- Stimulating my brain by doing puzzles and other brain activities like learning another language.
- Overcoming my movement problems by using my conscious brain to control those movements.
Only a controlled scientific study could give us the answer as to whether any or all of these actions have been the reason why my condition has improved.
Perhaps we can take some of the huge sums of money spent on looking for that elusive CURE and spend it on something that would make all of our lives as good as mine has been over the past 14 years.
While I was in Canada I met three different people who have raised large sums of money for the purpose of finding a cure for Pd. They have all expressed a willingness to play a part in conducting a double-blind scientific study into what I have been doing. I have also met a medical doctor, who has agreed to take part in specifying the study in the correct way, so that the results will be viewed by the medical profession as positive proof of the effect of Fast Walking on the progression of Pd.
When that all happens, I will feel that my mission to make Pd a manageable condition that does not require any harmful medication will be complete and I can rest in peace, knowing that I have achieved my goal!.
Benefits of Walking
New study on benefits of fast walking (confirms John Pepper's protocol)
As published in HealthUnlocked Website September 2018
By Vivian Goldschmidt, MA
Fast or slow walking, which is better for your body and your bones?
In our instant-access world, some people long for a return to a slower pace. That’s understandable.
But there is one aspect of life in which faster is better: walking. Science has confirmed fast walking could add years to your life as well as life to your years — and even help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, and dementia.
Beyond Bone Health: Walking for Your Heart and Mind
The benefits of fast walking are especially dramatic for older walkers. In a new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers from five universities found walkers 60 and older who strode at an average pace reduced their cardiovascular risk by 46 percent; fast walkers reduced their risk by 53 percent.
“Assuming our results reflect cause and effect, these analyses suggest that increasing walking pace may be a straightforward way for people to improve heart health and risk for premature mortality,” said Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, the study’s lead author.
“Especially in situations when walking more isn’t possible due to time pressures or a less walking-friendly environment, walking faster may be a good option to get the heart rate up — one that most people can easily incorporate into their lives.”
The British study confirms what the National Walkers’ Health Study reported in 2013: a brisk walk beats jogging for health benefits while protecting older bones and joints from unnecessary stress. The National Walkers’ study was the first of its kind to demonstrate the health benefits of stepping lively over time.
Drawing from a large database maintained at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, scientists divided participants into four equal categories, based on pace. The fleet of foot enjoyed the greatest longevity. Strollers not only had a higher rate of death — they were more vulnerable to heart disease and dementia as causes of mortality.
If you’re a naturally slow walker, there’s a silver lining: an incremental increase in pace also reduces the risk of premature death. In the Berkeley study, walkers who were just a minute or so faster than the slowest group still experienced a significant uptick in longevity.
Synopsis
Fast walking can help improve heart health and reduce the risk of dementia and early death — and it’s an easy exercise routine to incorporate into your daily life.
How Walking Increases Bone Mineral Density
Another important benefit of fast walking is bone remodelling. Contrary to popular belief, bone is not solid, but is continually being rebuilt, or remodelled, at various sites throughout your skeleton.
In the first year of life, almost 100 percent of bone is remodelled as a baby grows. In adults, remodelling takes place at the rate of about ten percent per year.
However, lack of exercise, especially after menopause, can lead to bone loss. Weakened bones are more prone to breaking, often resulting in the dreaded hip fracture.
Walking can help prevent or forestall this crippling condition. The National Institutes of Health analysed the results of ten trials and found walking created “significant and positive effects” on bone mineral density of the femur (hip bone) in an older adult population, with walking programs that last longer than six months.
In other words: walk as if your life depends on it because it does.
Synopsis
Because bone building slows down after menopause, fast walking can help maintain bone mineral density, which in turn helps prevent hip fractures in older adults.
Do You Really Need 10,000 Steps?
If fast walking is one of the keys to healthy aging and building better bones, does that mean more is better? Step counters and advertising would have us believe 10,000 steps is some magical mobility goal. But this figure is more myth than magic.
10,000 steps equal somewhere between four and five miles, depending on your stride. That’s a lot of walking in a day, even for a younger person, and may be too ambitious for some seniors.
Basically, how you walk is as important as the amount of walking you do. Leisurely climbing the stairs, ambling along on the treadmill, or wandering casually down the block will all have a negligible effect on your health and bones; the goal is focused, fast walking that raises your heart rate and has you breaking a sweat.
Synopsis
The number of steps you take isn’t nearly as important as starting and maintaining a focused fitness program that includes regular fast walking to raise your heart rate.
Other Benefits of Fast Walking
Aside from postponing death, building healthy bones, and helping you to better overall health and fitness, walking saves your brain. It helps you:
Concentrate
Remain calm
Sleep better
Activate creativity
Reflect and regenerate (when you walk in nature)
For optimal wellbeing, walking should be placed in the context of a complete healthy lifestyle program that supports sustainable exercise.
Synopsis
Walking is an all-around body benefit, boosting mood and mental activity as well as bone health.
9 Tips for Smart, Safe, Swift Walking
While walking is second nature, fast walking for health requires a different degree of attention. Follow these nine tips for safe, effective speed walking:
Start with a stretch. Be sure to warm up with a gentle walk and, some light stretches (to the degree you’re able) before embarking on your fast walk.
Pay attention to posture. Your grandmother may have reminded you to stand up straight, and it’s the best advice for fast walking, too. Head up, shoulders back, and walk tall with your eyes forward.
Relax your shoulders. Hunching causes your body unnecessary strain. Relax — walking is meant to be a fun, natural workout.
Engage your arms. Swinging your arms from side to side, keeping them slightly bent, makes walking a whole body exercise. The motion will also help increase your speed, like a tailwind.
Breathe naturally. Some people unconsciously hold their breath when they exercise. The deeper you breathe, the more oxygen circulates through your body, and the more invigorated you’ll feel.
Make it a habit. Schedule your walk just as you would any other appointment. Choose a time of day that suits your natural rhythm. Morning people may prefer to start their day with exercise; a night owl might groan and roll over in bed. Pick a set time, and stick with it.
Build up your walking time gradually. Remember, it’s not the number of steps, but consistency and pace that will reap the most benefit. If you can fast-walk for 20 to 30 minutes a day, at least three times a week, that’s a good goal.
Wear walking shoes that fit. You don’t want blisters or pain to derail your efforts. Visit an athletic shoe store and ask a knowledgeable salesperson to help you select the right shoes for your age, gait, and comfort level.
Congratulate yourself. You’ve created a good habit to keep you healthy and build your bones that will serve you well for the rest of your life.
Synopsis
Warm up, relax, breathe, wear walking shoes that fit, and enjoy your fast walking routine — it’s one of the best new habits you can start.
Walking Works At Any Age
Exercise is a sound investment, even if you’re well into your senior years. Beginning a fast walking routine can help you build your bones, and stay healthy and mobile longer. Frail, formerly sedentary elders have improved their bone health and fitness significantly via an exercise program that included daily walks, balance and strength training.
You’re never too old to walk. Picking up the pace is a natural way to improve your bone health and have a long, healthy life.
More Information https://www.verywellfit.com/how-fast-is-brisk-walking-3436887
Interesting Facts on Fast Walking
- Before I was diagnosed with Pd in 1992 I went to the gym for one hour, six days of the week.
- For the next two years between 1992 and 1994 I increased my gym time to one and a half hours.
- Also between 1992 and 1994 I took sinemet 25/100 and symmetrel (I don’t know what qty) tablets three times a day
- On 1994 I stopped going to the gym and started to do Fast walking for twenty minutes, every second day. That was increased by five minutes every second week until I was doing one hour, three times a week.
- Also in 1994, I stopped taking Sinemet and symmetrel and started taking selegiline 5 mg twice a day, which the manufacturers claimed could possibly slow down the progression of Pd. My neurologist wanted me to test this theory.
- In 1998, my condition had improved so much that other people, who had not seen me for six years, noticed how well I was looking and told me so, in an accusatorily way, because they had expected me to be lot worse and possibly in a wheelchair.
- In 2002 my neurologist said he was going to put me on 3 x 25/100 sinemet a day, because I would be needing it after nine years. I took those sinemet for three months, but because I had noticed no change in my symptoms I decided to come back off them.
- Early in 2002 I came off my selegiline for six months, with no worsening in my symptoms, but six months later I went back on the selegiline for 3 months. As I had managed quite well for those six months I decided to try to come back off the selegilne to see what happened.
- I have not had to go back on any Pd medication since the end of 2002.but I have continued with the fast walking ever since 1994.
- I have experienced several injuries since 1998, when I started to walk every day. I tore a calf muscle in my right leg, tore a ligament in my right foot and tore a muscle in my left buttocks.
- At the age of 82, in 2017, I started taking part in the weekly five kilometre Parkrun, although I only walk, while most others run all the time or walk and run. Very few people actually walk all the way as I do. I don’t know where I came amongst the walkers, but i do know I am not the first but I finished all the races in the top 75%, That meant that in one of the races I finishes at 710 among a field of 994 contestants. I was the oldest there so everybody I beat was younger than me and they were not all walking only.
Fast Walking Rules
Please note that this and all other articles are written by me, as a person with Parkinson’s disease (Pd). I understand what having Pd is like and what we can and can’t do. I am not a trained Physical Exercise person, nor am I a medically trained person, and the way I describe things is maybe not the same way they would, but you, as Parkinson’s patients, will understand what I am saying.
*When I say his, him or he I mean both sexes.
*************
- Unless you are currently very fit, you are strongly advised to start FAST WALKING for no more than 10 minutes, otherwise the maximum time should be no more than 20 minutes!
- Walk every second day for the first 2 weeks, - Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday each week. You could walk every second day, which means you can walk 7 times in 2 weeks!
- After each 2nd week, add a further maximum 5 MINUTES onto the walking time. So the 2nd 2 weeks you will walk for 15 minutes. Then the 3rd 2 weeks you will walk 20 minutes. Etc.
- Never walk longer than these times as stipulated!
- Never walk every day!
- If you feel that you cannot start at 10 minutes then start at the time you are able to achieve at the beginning and add as much time as you are able every second week, BUT NEVER MORE THAN 5 MINUTES!
- When you reach one hour, you stop increasing the time and walk for no more than 1 hour. You should always try to walk as FAST AS YOU CAN!
- ENJOY YOUR WALKING!
How do you know if you are walking at maximum speed?
If you can speak more than two words you are not walking at YOUR MAXIMUM SPEED!
If you cannot speak at all you are walking too fast.
You should just be able to speak a maximum of 3 words between breaths.
Fast Walking
Hints
This will accompany the film on the email:
You may sometime freeze when you are walking then follow the same procedure you went through when starting to walk properly:
- Relax
- Place your full weight onto your left foot
- Lift your right foot off the ground and move your right leg forward about eighteen inches (375mm), or even further, and land on the heel of that foot, with your right toes pointing up in the air.
- Keep moving forward, while lifting the left foot off the ground and bringing it as far forward as possible and landing on the heel of that foot, with your left toes pointing up in the air.
- Keep walking as fast as you can.
If you feel or hear that you are scraping your feet, it means that you are losing your concentration and walking badly.
When you get too tired, you will not be able to concentrate anymore. Don’t feel bad about this, because it is very tiring to begin with. The more you practices the further you will be able to walk.
When you have come to grips with the simple reality that you are now able to concentrate on your actual movements and have started walking normally, then you are on your way to ‘reversing your Pd!
As soon as you are able to do it more confidently, with him still holding your arm, as indicated above, then you should be able to walk every second day, as fast as you can, and start to reverse your Pd. When you no longer need him holding your arm then you can walk unaided.
How fast is fast?
If you cannot speak, when you are walking, then you are walking too fast.
If you can speak ‘normally’, then you are walking too slowly.
When you are walking at the correct speed for you, then you should only be able say, “One, Two, Three”, between breaths.
You should breathe as deeply as possible all the time you are walking.
Try not to talk to each other, while you are learning because you can lose your concentration and rhythm and could possibly fall. This is very important.
After fast walking for about a month:
You should start paying attention to pushing up on the toes of the back feet, before the heels of the front feet touch the ground!
Because this is all happening quite fast, you should be consciously aware that you are pushing forward on the toes of your back feet. You can’t look down to see if you are doing this, but you will feel that you are walking much smoother and you will be aware that the weight of your body is being carried on the toes of the back feet.
Check Your Posture:
If you are not standing upright, then stand erect with your shoulders back and your head upright! There is nothing stopping you from doing so, it is just a bad habit you have developed over the years. If you can lay flat on your back in bed then you can stand up straight. You may need some exercises to help strengthen your back muscles.
What is the Walking Plan?
To begin with, ten minutes maximum!
After every second week you can add an additional five minutes to your time.
That means, for the first two weeks you walk for Ten Minutes each walk. On the third and fourth week you walk for Fifteen Minutes each walk. Every second week you will add an additional five minutes per walk until you reach One Hour.
When you reach one hour you no longer continue to add an additional five minutes per walk. You stay at one hour per walk and concentrate on walking faster and faster!
Keep Records of Your Walks:
You must keep a written record of each walk, showing the time walked and the distance travelled. You can then divide the time by the distance and work out how many minutes it took you to walk one kilometre. Seeing your speed improving will give you an incredible boost. Put all these records in a log book for future reference.
How often must you walk?
You must only walk every second day!
If you walk every day, you will not give your muscles a chance to recover. That will result in muscle injuries and your muscles will start to eat themselves up, in order to get the energy they need to do what you are calling upon them to do.
You can walk seven times in a two week period, or have a day off each week and only walk three times a week.
What must your pulse rate be in beats per minute (BPM)?
As we are all different, we all have different pulse rates. Mine might get up to 100 BPM while yours might get up to 125 BPM. It matters not if you are walking as fast as you can!
Why is Fast Walking better than jogging?
I don’t know for certain the answer to this question. All I do know is that in the controlled studies done By Dr Beth Fisher in 2006, she found that the best exercise was, “High Intensity Walking”. By that I can only think it means “Fast Walking”. She tested jogging and running, although I don’t know how she got Parkinson’s patients to run or jog.
Is walking on the road better than on a treadmill?
Yes! Parkinson’s disease affects our brain. It does nothing to our body. However, because the brain controls all movements and if, as a result of having Pd, we don’t use certain muscles in our body then those muscles will atrophy. So, Pd affects the body indirectly. If we start using those atrophied muscles again, they will start to grow again and get stronger.
Walking on a road requires a lot more brain activity. It has to deal with uneven surfaces and if we walk on uneven surfaces the brain has a lot more work to do. So, the result is that when we walk on a treadmill, we can actually watch TV or even read a book. That means that we use the brain a great deal less when walking on a treadmill.
I would strongly recommend that you walk on grass, because if you have a fall you will not hurt yourself as badly as you would on the road.
Remember! There is always a risk of falling. I have fallen quite often, at the beginning, but never broke any bones, because of the exercise I have always been doing. That is why I recommend having someone hold the patient’s arm for the initial period, when you are getting used to using your conscious brain to control your walking.
Learn to turn your upper body sideways, when you fall. In that way you will roll on the ground and not hurt yourself as much.
Fast Walking
Hints
This will accompany the film on the email:
You may sometime freeze when you are walking then follow the same procedure you went through when starting to walk properly:
- Relax
- Place your full weight onto your left foot
- Lift your right foot off the ground and move your right leg forward about eighteen inches (375mm), or even further, and land on the heel of that foot, with your right toes pointing up in the air.
- Keep moving forward, while lifting the left foot off the ground and bringing it as far forward as possible and landing on the heel of that foot, with your left toes pointing up in the air.
- Keep walking as fast as you can.
If you feel or hear that you are scraping your feet, it means that you are losing your concentration and walking badly.
When you get too tired, you will not be able to concentrate anymore. Don’t feel bad about this, because it is very tiring to begin with. The more you practices the further you will be able to walk.
When you have come to grips with the simple reality that you are now able to concentrate on your actual movements and have started walking normally, then you are on your way to ‘reversing your Pd!
As soon as you are able to do it more confidently, with him still holding your arm, as indicated above, then you should be able to walk every second day, as fast as you can, and start to reverse your Pd. When you no longer need him holding your arm then you can walk unaided.
How fast is fast?
If you cannot speak, when you are walking, then you are walking too fast.
If you can speak ‘normally’, then you are walking too slowly.
When you are walking at the correct speed for you, then you should only be able say, “One, Two, Three”, between breaths.
You should breathe as deeply as possible all the time you are walking.
Try not to talk to each other, while you are learning because you can lose your concentration and rhythm and could possibly fall. This is very important.
After fast walking for about a month:
You should start paying attention to pushing up on the toes of the back feet, before the heels of the front feet touch the ground!
Because this is all happening quite fast, you should be consciously aware that you are pushing forward on the toes of your back feet. You can’t look down to see if you are doing this, but you will feel that you are walking much smoother and you will be aware that the weight of your body is being carried on the toes of the back feet.
Check Your Posture:
If you are not standing upright, then stand erect with your shoulders back and your head upright! There is nothing stopping you from doing so, it is just a bad habit you have developed over the years. If you can lay flat on your back in bed then you can stand up straight. You may need some exercises to help strengthen your back muscles.
What is the Walking Plan?
To begin with, ten minutes maximum!
After every second week you can add an additional five minutes to your time.
That means, for the first two weeks you walk for Ten Minutes each walk. On the third and fourth week you walk for Fifteen Minutes each walk. Every second week you will add an additional five minutes per walk until you reach One Hour.
When you reach one hour you no longer continue to add an additional five minutes per walk. You stay at one hour per walk and concentrate on walking faster and faster!
Keep Records of Your Walks:
You must keep a written record of each walk, showing the time walked and the distance travelled. You can then divide the time by the distance and work out how many minutes it took you to walk one kilometre. Seeing your speed improving will give you an incredible boost. Put all these records in a log book for future reference.
How often must you walk?
You must only walk every second day!
If you walk every day, you will not give your muscles a chance to recover. That will result in muscle injuries and your muscles will start to eat themselves up, in order to get the energy they need to do what you are calling upon them to do.
You can walk seven times in a two week period, or have a day off each week and only walk three times a week.
What must your pulse rate be in beats per minute (BPM)?
As we are all different, we all have different pulse rates. Mine might get up to 100 BPM while yours might get up to 125 BPM. It matters not if you are walking as fast as you can!
Why is Fast Walking better than jogging?
I don’t know for certain the answer to this question. All I do know is that in the controlled studies done By Dr Beth Fisher in 2006, she found that the best exercise was, “High Intensity Walking”. By that I can only think it means “Fast Walking”. She tested jogging and running, although I don’t know how she got Parkinson’s patients to run or jog.
Is walking on the road better than on a treadmill?
Yes! Parkinson’s disease affects our brain. It does nothing to our body. However, because the brain controls all movements and if, as a result of having Pd, we don’t use certain muscles in our body then those muscles will atrophy. So, Pd affects the body indirectly. If we start using those atrophied muscles again, they will start to grow again and get stronger.
Walking on a road requires a lot more brain activity. It has to deal with uneven surfaces and if we walk on uneven surfaces the brain has a lot more work to do. So, the result is that when we walk on a treadmill, we can actually watch TV or even read a book. That means that we use the brain a great deal less when walking on a treadmill.
I would strongly recommend that you walk on grass, because if you have a fall you will not hurt yourself as badly as you would on the road.
Remember! There is always a risk of falling. I have fallen quite often, at the beginning, but never broke any bones, because of the exercise I have always been doing. That is why I recommend having someone hold the patient’s arm for the initial period, when you are getting used to using your conscious brain to control your walking.
Learn to turn your upper body sideways, when you fall. In that way you will roll on the ground and not hurt yourself as much.
Fast Walking Rules
Please note that this and all other articles are written by me, as a person with Parkinson’s disease (Pd). I understand what having Pd is like and what we can and can’t do. I am not a trained Physical Exercise person, nor am I a medically trained person, and the way I describe things is maybe not the same way they would, but you, as Parkinson’s patients, will understand what I am saying.
*When I say his, him or he I mean both sexes.
*************
- Unless you are currently very fit, you are strongly advised to start FAST WALKING for no more than 10 minutes, otherwise the maximum time should be no more than 20 minutes!
- Walk every second day for the first 2 weeks, - Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday each week. You could walk every second day, which means you can walk 7 times in 2 weeks!
- After each 2nd week, add a further maximum 5 MINUTES onto the walking time. So the 2nd 2 weeks you will walk for 15 minutes. Then the 3rd 2 weeks you will walk 20 minutes. Etc.
- Never walk longer than these times as stipulated!
- Never walk every day!
- If you feel that you cannot start at 10 minutes then start at the time you are able to achieve at the beginning and add as much time as you are able every second week, BUT NEVER MORE THAN 5 MINUTES!
- When you reach one hour, you stop increasing the time and walk for no more than 1 hour. You should always try to walk as FAST AS YOU CAN!
- ENJOY YOUR WALKING!
How do you know if you are walking at maximum speed?
If you can speak more than two words you are not walking at YOUR MAXIMUM SPEED!
If you cannot speak at all you are walking too fast.
You should just be able to speak a maximum of 3 words between breaths.
Why do Fast Walking for Parkinson`s Disease?
Please note that this and all other articles are written by me, as a person with Parkinson’s disease (Pd). I understand what having Pd is like and what we can and can’t do. I am not a trained Physical Exercise person, nor am I a medically trained person, and the way I describe things is maybe not the same way they would, but you, as Parkinson’s patients, will understand what I am saying.
*When I say his, him or he I mean both sexes.
*************
Walking fast is not natural. When we walk fast I think our brains get a message that we are in trouble!
We have all heard the expression, “Fight or Flight”, by which is meant that when we are in danger, we have the choice to either run away from danger or fight it.
When we fight or run fast we stand a good chance of getting injured.
If we were not capable of repairing reasonable injuries we would not have survived as a species.
When we cut our skin, which often happens, we replace the damaged skin cells with new skin cells. Likewise, when we break a bone we knit the two parts of the bone together with new bone cells.
Every type of cell in the body produces a substance that is known as ‘Growth Factor’. In the brain there are many different types of brain cells and the one we are interested in is our ‘Glial’ cells. These are the cells that are attacked by Parkinson’s disease.
These Glial cells produce a substance called GDNF (Glial Derived Neurotrophic Factor) which is a growth factor. Neurotrophic means ‘nerve repair’ or ‘nerve building’. Glial derived means that this substance is made by the glial cells.
This means that the very cells that are damaged by Parkinson’s disease actually make their own ‘Repair/Building Kit’.
How do we get our brains to produce this GDNF? The answer is, “I am not sure”.
I think that when we do fast walking, which is not natural, because if we were in a hurry we would run, which is much faster than walking and much easier to do. So when we do fast walking, the brain thinks we must be in danger and it produces this GDNF.
Why do I think that fast walking produces the GDNF?
When I went to the gym for ninety minutes every day for the first two years after being diagnosed, my condition proceeded to get worse far quicker than it had before diagnosis. I was doing walking on the treadmill for twenty minutes every day, six days of the week, and riding a bicycle for twenty minutes and climbing steps for twenty minutes every day. That obviously was not producing any GDNF because my symptoms were getting worse much quicker than when I was doing gym for only sixty minutes every day.
But when I gave up the gym two years after diagnosis, and joined ‘Run/Walk for LIFE’, my symptoms started to get noticeably better. Walking on a treadmill is not the same as walking on the road or on grass. The brain does far less work when we walk on a treadmill.
At Run/Walk for LIFE we were only allowed, at the beginning, to walk for 10 minutes every second day. To that was added a further five minutes every second week. After twenty weeks we would be walking for one hour, if we did not have any problems during those twenty weeks. After twenty weeks we did not walk for any more time but we concentrated on walking faster.
Even after those first twenty weeks my time had improved by quite a large margin. When I began I was timed at over ten and a half minutes per kilometre. After i reached one hour of walking I was walking at less than nine minutes a kilometre; an improvement of nearly twenty percent.
Not only had my walking time improved but my symptoms had started to improve as well. Why did this all happen?
My money is on the fast walking being responsible!!!
Dr Beth Fisher and Dr Michael Zigmond did some trials with rats, monkeys and Parkinson’s patients. Those trials all proved that ‘High Intensity Exercise’ brought about a big improvement in the symptoms of all three subjects, This scientific proof was announced at the first World Parkinson’s Congress (WPC1) held in Washington DC in 2006.
There is much still to be learned about fast walking, but in the meantime, we can all do the walking
How I Overcame Most of My Pd Symptoms
- I took an MAOb inhibitor as the ONLY Pd Medication.
- I walked as FAST as I could for ONE HOUR, THREE TIMES A WEEK. (I started the walking for TWENTY minutes per session and every second week I increased it by an additional FIVE minutes, until I got up to ONE HOUR. You may only be able to walk FAST for no more than TWO minutes, but that is FINE! Just keep walking as FAST as you can until you get to the MAGIC ONE HOUR!)
- I adopted a POSITIVE ATTITUDE!
- I got rid of everything that STRESSED me. I continued to manage my STRESS levels all the time after that.
- I did everything I could to exercise my BRAIN! I did Su Doku Puzzles, Cryptic Crossword Puzzles and started learning to speak another language. I played Bridge and took part in plays, learning words.
- I learned how to take CONSCIOUS CONTROL of the movements I was no longer able to perform properly, like WALKING, Bringing Food to My Mouth and WRITING. (Pd affects any type of movement we make that does not need us to think about what our arms and legs are doing; like walking, bringing food to our mouths and writing. We can still perform all those functions normally by using our conscious brain to control them, as we did as babies)
If you follow this formula you stand a good chance of improving the level of your health. After a year you should have noticed a huge improvement in your movements and many other symptoms.
If you continue to carry on the above regimen you stand a good chance of overcoming many of your Pd symptoms, as I have.
Don’t be impatient! it took me 8 years to come off my medication. That was 8 years getting BETTER, not 8 years continuing to get WORSE!
How I Overcame Most of My Pd Symptoms
- I took an MAOb inhibitor as the ONLY Pd Medication.
- I walked as FAST as I could for ONE HOUR, THREE TIMES A WEEK. (I started the walking for TWENTY minutes per session and every second week I increased it by an additional FIVE minutes, until I got up to ONE HOUR. You may only be able to walk FAST for no more than TWO minutes, but that is FINE! Just keep walking as FAST as you can until you get to the MAGIC ONE HOUR!)
- I adopted a POSITIVE ATTITUDE!
- I got rid of everything that STRESSED me. I continued to manage my STRESS levels all the time after that.
- I did everything I could to exercise my BRAIN! I did Su Doku Puzzles, Cryptic Crossword Puzzles and started learning to speak another language. I played Bridge and took part in plays, learning words.
- I learned how to take CONSCIOUS CONTROL of the movements I was no longer able to perform properly, like WALKING, Bringing Food to My Mouth and WRITING. (Pd affects any type of movement we make that does not need us to think about what our arms and legs are doing; like walking, bringing food to our mouths and writing. We can still perform all those functions normally by using our conscious brain to control them, as we did as babies)
If you follow this formula you stand a good chance of improving the level of your health. After a year you should have noticed a huge improvement in your movements and many other symptoms.
If you continue to carry on the above regimen you stand a good chance of overcoming many of your Pd symptoms, as I have.
Don’t be impatient! it took me 8 years to come off my medication. That was 8 years getting BETTER, not 8 years continuing to get WORSE!
Getting Up out of a Chair
- Manoeuvre your bum to the edge of the chair, if possible
- Bring your feet back as far as possible under the chair. Try to make a habit of sitting on chairs that are not closed in at the front, near the floor and are not too low.
- Lean forwards as far as you can with your arms out in front of you
- You should now be able to lift yourself up
- Don’t get cross with yourself.
How to temporarily Hide the Resting Tremor
It is possible to temporarily stop your hands from shaking by doing the following:
- Clench your fists, not too tightly, or
- Splay your fingers out as far as you can
You will notice that your tremor stops when you do either of the above.
You will also notice that you cannot maintain either of these actions for very long, if it embarrasses you, you can hide the tremor, but only for a while.
You can also hide the tremor by sitting down on a chair, with your hand on your thigh, with the fingers splayed out. This can be done successfully for quite a while, with practice.
Try to relax, when hiding the tremor.