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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.
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
Why Walk? I Hate Walking!
My name is John Pepper. I am a Parkinson’s patient. My Parkinson’s disease started in 1963, when I found that I could not throw a ball properly. However, I was only diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1992, when I developed a bad walking gait.
Why did it take twenty-nine years before I was diagnosed?
I am neither a doctor nor a gym teacher. Having said that - since diagnosis - I have taken note of every news item I could find, concerning Parkinson's. Many news articles claimed that certain types of energetic exercise can and do affect the progression of Parkinson’s Disease
What has been my experience regarding exercise?
I spent twenty-two years, from 1970 to 1992, going to the gym, for one hour a day, six days a week, doing aerobic exercises and weight-training exercises.
For the next two years, after diagnosis, I increased the gym to 90 minutes - doing 60 minutes of aerobic exercise on the treadmill, step climbing and bicycle machines; and then, thirty minutes on various other weight-bearing machines.
During those two years, my condition continued to slowly get worse. After two years in 1994, I gave up the gym entirely, and gave in to my wife, Shirley's, request to join her at Run/Walk for Life. Within three months, my performance had improved quite noticeably. That was the first time it had shown any improvement for many years. That was the turning point in my Parkinson’s Disease!
What actually happened, since giving up going to the gym?
At Run/Walk for Life, I only did aerobic walking for three sessions a week, having started at twenty minutes a session, which increased by five minutes every second week. At the end of three months, I was walking for 45 minutes a session. The reason for doing only walking every second day was to give my muscles a chance to recover, after each exercise session. I was only allowed to walk every second day. In the past, I had been doing the same exercise every day, thus, not giving my muscles a chance to recover. They ended up eating up muscle tissue, in order to get the required energy they needed. The result was, my muscles got smaller and my fatty tissue grew larger. Not a good situation!
Energetic Walking Produces a substance Called GDNF!
What produces GDNF (Glial Derived Neurotrophic Factor) and why is it produced?
The body has a survival system, which is only activated when it thinks the body is under attack, or in danger. When we are under attack, or in danger, we either stand up to it and fight for our life, or we run away from it - the fight or flight syndrome - of which you must have heard.
The body produces this Growth Factor in every area of the body, which repairs the damaged tissue, if and when required. GDNF repairs damaged brain tissue, whereas the Growth Factor produced in the liver produces liver tissue etc. Our problem is that we have damaged Glial cells, which are neurons, that produce dopamine. When the GDNF repairs some of the neurons, we produce more dopamine and we start to get better. However, as we have not done anything to stop the Parkinson's from killing off more glial cells, we have to continually try to produce enough GDNF to stay ahead of the Parkinson's.
In other words, we have our own, built-in, repair kits!
What is the optimum time we should walk?
The optimum time for exercise has been found to be three, one-hour sessions, at maximum effort, per week, with a one day rest between sessions.
Why does more than one hour not produce more GDNF?
I don't know, but many tests have been done, and that was the result.
Why is walking or running the best form of exercise for this purpose?
It keeps our pulse-rate up to maximum level and maintains it there until we stop. Other forms of exercise tend to be stop-start, and cannot be sustained at any level, for the required one hour. If we were boxing, it would be just as good, but we could not sustain that for a full hour. As most Parkinson's patients have problems with balance, I would recommend walking, but running is just as good. Walking on the open road is better than walking on a treadmill, because we have to think about the surface on which we are walking and where we are going - whereas, on a treadmill, we merely have to put one foot in front of the other. This came out of many of the studies. The best results are produced when the brain is kept as active as the body. I assume that the condition required by the body to, produce the GDNF, would involve both the brain and the body.
Guess why I choose to walk?
I get lots of patients telling me that they don't like walking. It is boring! To me, it is not half as boring as the thought of being unable to move very well, or go anywhere, while living from one dose of medication to the next.
I have to concentrate so hard on walking properly, that I don't have time to get bored. It is so important to me, that I would not care if it got boring, as I enjoy my quality of life, even at the age of seventy-nine (2014).
We all have to make our own choices!
Either we do nothing, take our medication and put up with our Pd; or we exercise regularly and honestly, take the minimum medication and enjoy the benefits, by living a full life.
The choice is all yours!
Rhythmic beat may help Parkinson’s rehab
Copied from The Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation Weekly News Update
Walking to an audible beat may be useful in rehabilitation for people with Parkinson’s disease and similar disorders, a study shows.
futurity.org - Researchers studied the effects of various metronomic stimuli (a mechanically produced beat) on fifteen healthy adults, ages 18 to 30. Walkers participated in two sessions consisting of five 15-minute trials in which the participants walked with different cues.
In the first, participants walked at their preferred walking speed. Then, in subsequent trials, participants were asked to walk to a metronomic beat, produced by way of visuals, sound, or touch. Finally, participants were asked to walk with all three cues simultaneously, the pace of which was set to that of the first trial.
“We found that the auditory cue had the greatest influence on human gait, while the visual cues had no significant effect whatsoever,” says Ervin Sejdic, an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, who reports findings in the journal PLoS One.
“This finding could be particularly helpful for patients with Parkinson’s disease, for example, as auditory cues work very well in their rehabilitation.”
With illnesses like Parkinson’s disease—a brain disorder leading to shaking (tremors) and difficulty walking, — a big question is whether researchers can better understand the changes that come with deterioration.
“tentimes, a patient with Parkinson’s disease comes in for an exam, completes a gait assessment in the laboratory, and everything is great,” says Sejdic. “But then, the person leaves and falls down. Why? Because a laboratory is a strictly controlled environment. It’s flat, has few obstacles, and there aren’t any cues (like sound) around us.
“When we're walking around our neighborhoods, however, there are sidewalks, as well as streetlights and people honking car horns: you have to process all of this information together. We are trying to create that real-life space in the laboratory.”
In the future, Sejdic and his team would like to conduct similar walking trials with patients with Parkinson’s disease, to observe whether their gait is more or less stable.
“Can we see the same trends that we observed in healthy people?” he says. “And, if we observe the same trends, then that would have direct connotations to rehabilitation processes.”
The team feels that visual cues could be considered as an alternative modality in rehabilitation and should be further explored in the laboratory. Additionally, they plan to explore the impact of music on runners and walkers.
Funding for this project was provided, in part, by the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Toronto, and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/rhythmic-beat-may-help-parkinson%E2%80%99s-rehab/
More about Walking
My name is John Pepper. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1992.
Why can I walk properly, when I focus my full attention on each move?
Not having had any medical training and not being a scholar, I have to give my answer as a person with Parkinson’s disease - I don’t know!
Why is walking so important?
Here I am on safer ground! In 2006, the results of a lengthy scientific study, done in the USA, gave the answer to this question. These results were announced at the First World Parkinson’s Conference, held in Washington, DC. So why do we all not know about this important development?
Certain types of energetic exercise can slow down or even reverse Pd.
These results should be displayed on the walls of every neurologist in the world!
This was the reason why my Pd took so long to be diagnosed, in 1992, about twenty-nine years after my first symptom appeared in 1963.
Read all about this type of exercise and what I had been doing since 1970, which slowed down my Pd. My book, ‘Reverse Parkinson’s Disease’ tells my whole story, so that others can benefit from knowing what I did, in order to overcome my Pd. In a nutshell, I think that fast walking, MAO-b inhibitor medication, and stress control were responsible for my improved health! To tell the whole story in an article is just not possible.
This is the most exciting story for all Pd sufferers. It is the first story of REAL HOPE we have ever had!
The real question is:
Why don’t neurologists tell their patients about this good news? Why indeed!
The Five Most Important Actions Needed to Take Control of Parkinson’s Disease
I am not a doctor, I am a Parkinson’s Patient with 51 years of experience. These are the actions, which have helped me:
1. Regular Energetic Exercise
2. An MAO-b Inhibitor as the only Medication
3. Learn how to Take Conscious Control of all movements
4. Manage Stress Levels
5. Adopt a Positive Attitude
John Pepper
Take a Walk in The Park
04/28/2013
Walking improves stamina, energy, heart health, strength, and balance. As a form of exercise walking may even alter the physical and brain changes that occur with Parkinson’s over time. Walking can also help the mind and the soul. Research tells us that exercise including simply just walking, can protect our thinking abilities as we get older and protect from disease…
· Reduce cognitive decline that can happen with aging
· Reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease a form of dementia that attacks memory and thinking skills
· Reduce the decline executive function in Parkinson’s. (Learn more about executive function.)
Walking can also be good for our emotions and our soul. We have long known that exercise can help our mood and treat depression. A walk in the park is like getting a double dose of therapy.
John Muir, a naturalist and nature lover once wrote,
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
In a time when many of us are flocking to gyms, joining exercise classes or getting on the treadmill to get in ‘their exercise’, we may be missing an opportunity to move and feel well. Researchers evaluating the effect of walking on our mood showed that a walk in the park improved mood more than a similar walk in the shopping mall. Our environment affects how we feel, think, move and behave. Think about a walk in the park on a beautiful sunny day and the feeling and experience that comes to mind
· The fresh air sharpens the senses and clears the mind of clutter
· The marvel and good natured fun of watching nature
· The stress dissolving effect of the peaceful calm of a gentle breeze
· The sense of hope and anticipation that comes with the first spring buds.
· The reflection of days past and what brings joy to us in life as we watch the sun set
· The challenge and sure footedness of walking that is gained from walking on uneven ground
· The chance to slow down, share your walk and connect with a loved one
· The energizing feel of the sun
· The joy and reminder that little things like a bird’s song or child’s laughter are important in life
· The soothing effect of the sun’s warmth on our back
The benefits of nature are available to us all. The power of exercise in Parkinson’s, healthy aging and emotional wellbeing are undisputed. Enhance this power by taking your next exercise activity outdoors. Whether you take a stroll in your wheelchair in the park, take a walk around the block or a short stroll in your backyard, the benefit of nature is priceless.
Author: Monique Giroux, MD
Copyright 2013 Northwest Parkinson's Foundation Wellness Center
Brain feedback may ease Parkinson’s
Copied from Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation Weekly Newsletter
Futurity - People experiencing the early signs of Parkinson’s disease could see their symptoms improved through a process of regulating and re-training how their brains respond to certain activities and actions.
Experts from Cardiff University report in a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience using real-time brain imaging to identify how people with Parkinson’s disease react to their own brain responses.
Scientists used a technique known as neurofeedback to monitor brain activity in an MRI scanner. The activity levels are then fed back to the patient in the form of a display on a screen.
Using this feedback, the study found that patients were able to learn to alter activity in specific parts of their brain.
“This is the first time that this neurofeedback technique has been used with patients with Parkinson’s disease,” according to David Linden, a professor from Cardiff University, who led the study, which was a collaboration between scientists and clinicians in Wales, London, and the Netherlands.
“Self-regulation of brain activity in humans based on real-time feedback is emerging as a powerful technique. In this study we assessed whether patients with Parkinson’s disease are able to alter their brain activity to improve their motor function.”
“We found that the five patients who received neurofeedback were able to increase activity in brain networks important for movements and that this intervention resulted in an overall improvement in motor speed—in this case, finger tapping.”
The study involved 10 patients, all with early stage Parkinson’s. The patients were divided into two groups: half the group received brain feedback and the other did not.
While self-regulation using related techniques has been used in other conditions like ADHD, apart from a study on chronic pain the clinical potential of the technique for neurological disorders has not been explored.
Parkinson’s disease was considered a suitable target for the technique—and an opportunity to show that its use could help patients with neurogenerative disorders.
“Whilst this was a very small study the key aim was to establish whether this technique may be feasible for sufferers,” Linden adds.
“The training resulted in clinically relevant improvement of motor functions—so assuming patients can learn to transfer the strategies used during neurofeedback into real-life settings, it might also become possible to sustain the clinical benefits.”
The scientists now hope to take this method further in formal clinical trials in order to establish whether it holds promise for patients.
“We have to be clear: This research won’t stop the progression of the disease nor should it offer sufferers false hope—but, it does have the potential to alter the course of motor symptoms and possibly reduce drug requirements in early disease,” says Linden.
“This may have the effect of delaying more severe motor complications and improve the quality of life of patients affected by Parkinson’s disease.”
*Note by John Pepper
I wonder if this concept is the same as I used, without any scans, when I examined my bad walking habits – I was dragging one foot and taking short steps – and then correcting the habit by consciously controlling the actual movements. I overrode the normal subconscious brain control of my walking, by consciously controlling the actions. Yes! We can overcome bad movement habits by using the conscious brain to control our movements!
Have you noticed, now that you have Parkinson’s Disease that you often bump into objects, while walking around your house? It might be a doorjamb or a chair leg. The problem is, that our brain does not pass this information to other areas of the brain, so that you automatically avoided those objects. Although you are conscious of seeing these objects, you still bump into them! The reason is lack of neurofeedback!
Exercise
What sort of exercise should people with Parkinson’s disease be doing, on a regular basis?
My name is John Pepper. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1992, at which time I had been in the habit of doing regular exercise since 1970, including gym exercises and jogging. In 1994, I started doing regular aerobic walking, in order to try and get fitter. My walk, at that time, was akin to that of an old-man. I was only sixty years old, and should not have been walking like that.
Walking is one of the movements, with which we Parkinson’s disease patients often battle. When I was Diagnosed in 1992, I was shuffling and taking short steps. Despite the awkward gait, I was determined to walk as fast as I possibly could, three times a week. Within five months of starting my walking program, I was walking for eight kilometres (five miles) in a little over one hour. I soon got that down to less than fifty-five minutes, with which I was very happy. However, I was not happy with my awkward walking gait. In 1998, I decided to pay less attention to my speed and more attention to the way I walked.
It took me many months to achieve this, by focussing on each movement, instead of letting my subconscious brain control it. I managed to achieve this - as many others, who have had accidents, have managed to do in the past – by focussing on the actual movements.
Why can I walk properly, when I focus my attention on each movement?
Not having had any medical training and not being a scholar, I have to give my answer, as a person with Parkinson’s disease?
“I don’t know!”
Why is walking so important?
Here, I am on safer ground! In 2006, the results of a lengthy scientific study, done in the USA, gave the answer to this interesting question. These results were announced at the First World Parkinson’s Conference, held in Washington, DC:
Certain types of energetic exercise can slow down or even reverse Parkinson’s disease.
These results should be displayed on the walls of every neurologist, throughout the world!
This was the reason why my Parkinson’s disease took so long to be diagnosed, in 1992, nearly thirty years after my first symptom appeared in the early 1960’s! It was because I did a lot of exercise, on a regular basis. It seems obvious that:
This exercise had the effect of slowing down the progress of my Parkinson’s disease.
Read all about this type of exercise and what I had been doing since 1970, which slowed down my Parkinson’s disease. My book, ‘Reverse Parkinson’s Disease’ tells my whole story, so that others can benefit from knowing what I did, in order to overcome my Parkinson’s disease.
This is the most exciting story for all Parkinson’s disease sufferers. It is the first story of:
REAL HOPE, based on someone’s successful experience, we have ever had!
The real question is:
Does the medical profession regularly tell their patients about this good news?
We know that busy doctors have no compulsion to educate their patients, with all the news that is coming out of laboratories and hospitals; but it would help to be pointed in the right direction!
All we know is; doctors were trained to diagnose medical problems and prescribe medication. That’s what doctors do!
However! Before anybody with Parkinson’s disease would be willing to do regular energetic exercise, with all the risks and discomfort it entails - they would need to know that what they are being advised to do, especially by another non-medical patient,
will really work!
They would want their doctor to advise them to do it. Better still, they might even need to be told that they had to do it!
We automatically assume that we have to take medication, but there must also be other things we can do to:
Help ourselves?
There certainly is!
Why has my condition got better?
On the subject of exercise, I assumed, in the beginning, that being a movement disorder, the more I moved, the longer I would be able to move. Whether I was right or wrong does not matter. I was in the habit of doing one hour of daily exercise, in a good gym, six days of the week.
After the diagnosis, I became very disenchanted with my performance in the gym. I had watched the level of my performance on every machine, slowly get worse and worse. I had been told, by my neurologist, that I must expect my Parkinson’s disease to get worse, because it is a degenerative condition. But I did not expect it to get worse so quickly. The weights on each machine had to be reduced almost every month. In the past, I was used to them slowly increasing, but now they were decreasing,
fast!
This made me very despondent, and within two years, I gave up going to the gym. I decided, at my wife’s insistence, to start walking with her walking group. They only walked three times a week, and for no more than one hour a session. Hell! What did it matter? What had I got to lose? I did not really care any more.
THEN! Within five months, my performance had improved to such an extent that I could not believe it.
What had happened?
Read my book and listen to what I did, that changed my whole attitude to my Parkinson’s disease. I am not advising you to commit yourself to spending a cent on anything to help you start to
Reverse Parkinson’s disease.
There are no catches to this story. I feel that if I could do it, then so can everybody else.
I spend most of my time these days, helping other people, at no cost to themselves, to:
Learn how to walk properly.
I go all over South Africa, encouraging people to start exercising and changing their life style.
Have I had any success?
Yes!
Has everybody been able to get exactly the same results as I?
No!
Why not?
Without doing a study, which would take forever, I feel that my commitment is probably more substantial than that of most others, and my belief in what I was doing was absolute!
Was it because other people were not able to exercise the same as I do?
No! I had no trouble teaching anybody how to walk properly, while they focussed on what they were doing. The problem has been that most of them don’t appear to want to do it on a regular basis, with total commitment. Many have said that walking bores them. I understand this, but there are other ways of doing exercise, that will bring about the same result, but as many of us have problems walking, why not kill two birds with one stone. Others say they have nowhere safe to do their walking. I know this is probably true, but how much effort would they have to put into looking for somewhere close-by, that would be safe?
It is all in the mind.
I have had a certain amount of success with other patients. But as it took several years before my hard work translated itself into positive results, I do not expect any miracles. Many of the people I have worked with have written glowing letters to me, and some of those letters can be viewed on this website. I have not kept all these letters in a convenient place, so that one day, I could show them to other people on my website. What a pity!
Why not commit yourself to starting an energetic exercise program, now?
If nothing else, it will improve your general health and your whole attitude to life!
What are you waiting for?
Why Not Order My Book - Reverse Parkinson's Disease
Go to my Website - reverseparkinsons.net
Opposition to exercise
My Name is John Pepper. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1992. My first symptoms showed up in 1963, when I found that I could not throw a ball properly.
I am not a doctor, nor do I have any medical training. However! I have lived with Pd for over fifty years and I have not needed to take any Pd medication since 2002. This is, in my opinion, because I only took an MAO-b inhibitor for medication for 8 years and I did regular determined WALKING for all those 8 years. I also got rid of all HARMFUL STRESS out of my life and adopted a very POSITIVE ATTITUDE.
My experience, ever since 2002 has been that there are many patients who think they are unable to exercise at the levels I suggest, or they are not interested in doing any exercise, even though the rewards are so enormous.
I have not ever been able to persuade these people that they are capable of doing the required exercise.
I have been able to demonstrate to every Pd patient, who has asked me to show them, or has volunteered to be shown, how to walk, when focusing on the individual movements.
None of them has ever failed to be able to, ‘Walk Properly’, while focusing on their actual movements. This applied to bed-ridden patients as well. Whether they carried on walking properly, I do not know. However, if I were personally able to be with them all the time, to be able to get them used to doing this, then I have no doubt that they would continue to do it
You can lead a horse to the water
BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE IT DRINK!
Lifestyle Changes
Dear Reader,
William here, I want to tell you John Pepper's story as he related it to me. John's story is a story of passion and excitement that I want to share with everyone, especially those that suffer from Parkinson's disease.
In 2002, John wrote his first book – “There IS LIFE After Parkinson’s Disease” - but doctors complained that the title claimed that his Parkinson's disease was now in the past, and he was therefore cured, even though he says he is not cured – so he changed the name of the second edition to - “There IS LIFE After Being Diagnosed With Parkinson’s Disease”.
In his book, he claimed that:
“Nobody would ever know he still has Parkinson’s Disease”.
To put this claim to the test, John consulted another eminent neurologist, who said that:
“You do not have Parkinson’s Disease. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, therefore you never had Parkinson's disease”
This neurologist did not carry out a proper clinical test on John. He mainly based his opinion on John’s outward appearance, which certainly did not look as if he had ever had Parkinson's disease. But, as he states quite clearly in his book, he still has many of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but because he has been able to overcome most of the movement problems, he is now able to live a perfectly normal life, providing he maintains his new life style regimen.
After selling 700 books, without any advertising, other than by word of mouth, he decided to change the name of his book to – “Reverse Parkinson’s Disease” – because of the success his story has had with patients, who have read his book and taken the bold steps he has recommended, in order to change their life style.
Why not find out what those lifestyle changes are?
All of John’s recommendations are common-sense solutions to general health problems, and cannot do any harm to anyone, unless their doctors have advised them not to do any meaningful exercise.
If John’s recommendations are all common sense, then why don’t more doctors recommend that Parkinson's disease patients take his advice?
That is a good question!
Do any of John’s recommendations get used for the treatment of other health problems?
Yes! They do!
Speech Therapists use some of these solutions and Cardiologists use others, to treat people with heart problems! Business people use other solutions to improve their business skills!
Why don’t Neurologists routinely recommend these solutions to
their Parkinson's disease patients?
The only answer John can come up with, as a layman, is that only a Parkinson's disease patient knows what he/she is capable of doing.
Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder, and part of his regimen involves strenuous exercise, and who would think that that would be a possible solution?
What type of strenuous exercise is John recommending?
You will have to read his book to find out how he came to the conclusion that walking was the single best exercise to do for Pd. He also does other exercises for strengthening his core muscles, but the answer to this question has to be put into a routine that most Parkinson's disease patients will be able to follow, without injuring themselves.
John has been there! He knows what is possible for a dedicated
‘Couch Potato’ like him to do!
John also knows that unless the Neurologist insists on his patient carrying out these life style changes, or the patient knows for certain that other patients have successfully done it, then the patient will never commit to this routine. It is much easier to take pills and accept what the future has to offer!
Why does John not claim to be cured?
Because he is not cured! If he stops his routine, due to other health problems, of which he has several, then his Parkinson's disease starts to deteriorate again. If ever he stops exercising, or whenever he got clever and stopped taking his medication, during those ten years after being diagnosed, then his condition got appreciably worse.
Why does John no longer take
any Parkinson's disease medication?
John’s Parkinson's disease is at the stage where medication is no longer needed, providing that he continues with his new lifestyle regimen.
Thank you for reading this story,
William Ainslie (John's Personal Trainer)