“Walk fast like you are catching a bus,” Dr Griffith said to Daniel, a medical doctor diagnosed with Parkinson’s 2 years ago. Wearing a mouth breathing piece, walking on the treadmill at this steady pace, with an incline increase of 2 percent every 2 minutes, gradually within 15 minutes, Daniel’s gait gets a bit wobbly and his symptomatic hand is tremoring hard. Meanwhile, Dr. Griffith raised his voice, “Good job, keep pushing,” “Great work, keep pushing, push, push”. The atmosphere gets more intense with the effort and enthusiasm. Every 2 minutes, Daniel rests his left arm on Dr Griffith’s shoulder for blood pressure measurement, and his heart rate is also recorded. In today’s session, blood pressure and heart rate are measured ten times during the 20 minutes of hard work.
This is the first SPARX research visit for Daniel, in the next 18 months, he will need to walk on a treadmill either in a gym or at home for an hour at a set intensity four times a week, he will need to come back once every month to walk on the treadmill at the set intensity for 40 minutes, and every 6 months, he needs to put out his max effort to test his VO2peak like today.
I’ve met two Parkinson’s patients in this research this week, and what is in common with them is that both patients are working in healthcare, one doctor, one cancer researcher. Both understand the benefits of exercise relating to symptom management, and both are motivated to get moving and committed to their health.
I hope they can develop a habit of exercising through this 18-month research study and build a solid foundation to face this disease.
